Killer s instinct
by Observer123
Summary: Dudley Puppy is back. Seven years after the Petropolis massacre he returned and changed completely. Even his former girlfriend and ex-partner don t recognize him. Also there is this new mysterious criminal who calls himself "Scratch". And he s planning something evil. There s a big mystery going on but will Dudley and Kitty be able to solve it? LAST CHAPTER IS UP
1. The room

**-Hello and welcome, I know it´s been a while but here I am. Back with a new story. I don´t want to talk to much now so just enjoy.-**

Deep in the T.U.F.F. building, deep deep inside the basement there is that certain room. A room which turns hard criminals into harmless sheep, a room in which the biggest villains get confronted with their enemies, a room which main purpose is to give the T.U.F.F. agents answers.

Answers that bring these agents closer and closer to their final goal, the truth. Meant is of course the legendary interrogation room. If you ask the T.U.F.F. agents about that room they would all say that it has some kind of magic. They were pretty superstitious about that room.

But not Kitty Katswell, T.U.F.F.´s number one agent. This tall tanned cat always believed that magic wasn´t the thing that made the bad guys finally crack. She believed that it was just something called skill. And in her opinion she had the most of it in the whole agency.

But on this one special day her self-confidence was put on a hard test. It was the day when she interrogated her former partner Dudley Puppy who tried desperately to light his cigarette with a broken lighter.

"Dammit." He cursed as the small flame went out again.  
"Again Dudley, what happened in that apartment?"  
Dudley didn´t even thought about answering here. He was too preoccupied with lighting up this damn cigarette.

Nervously he fished in his pockets for this pack of matches he got once as he visited that strip club in Petsburg. Luckily they still were there and they were also still functional. With relish he sucked in the warm steam which burnt slightly as it reached his lungs and blew it directly in Kitty´s face. "Well Katswell, it was self-defense."

"SELF-DEFENSE?!" screamed Kitty shocked. "You killed an old man! An old defenseless man!"  
"It was necessary. And I would do that again."  
"NECESSARY!" Kitty almost slapped him. Her ex-partner scared her and made her angry at the same time.

Especially the pictures see saw of what he done haunted her thoughts like an old powerful ghost. One of that ghost which just wouldn´t leave the house after six exorcisms. One of these ghost because of that you have to leave the house.

She saw him with a knife stabbing furiously on an old weak man. How he sat on that man´s chest and maltreated him. The blood that spurted fountain-like out of the heart near wounds… so much blood. Kitty has seen so much disgusting and bloody scenes in her career but this somehow overcame that all.

Not because it was the most terrible thing she saw but maybe because it was Dudley who did that. The man who saved here was capable of commit such an atrocity.  
"Yes, of course it was necessary." Repeated Dudley who took another pull on his cigarette. He finished it so he threw the cigarette butt on the table and rummaged in his package for the next.

"Oh… These things saved my life." He said eying the cigarettes almost loving.  
"What are you talking about? And when have you begun to smoke?"  
"Oh that must have happened after I pressed that guy the cigarette into his eye. Oh, that was fun! Must have been after I strangled this miner in Paraguay."

"God, Dudley… You changed." Kitty shook her head in disgust and turned away from him.  
"Wouldn´t you?" he mumbled with the cigarette in his mouth. "Tell me Katswell, wouldn´t you change if you´ve been through something like that?"

"I´ve also been through a lot Dudley!" She opened a few buttons on the black blouse she wore and showed Dudley the ugly round scar near her heart. "Do you remember?"  
"How could I forget? This sunny day seven years ago. The day of the massacre. How could I forget 231 casualties?"

Kitty stayed silent. She wouldn´t answer to this rhetorical question and also no answer would be good enough. But only the mention of the massacre let these picture flashing up in front of her mind´s eye.

She could hear the gun rattling mercilessly sending the unlucky who couldn´t find shelter one after the other to the shores of the river Styx. She opened her eyes fast again. Her therapist advised her not to abandon herself to these memories too long. Otherwise the panic attacks would start again.

For a T.U.F.F. agent there was nothing worse than crouching after every suspicious noise under a table. No, she was done with that. Since two years she´s been attack free now and that shouldn´t change. Generally her psyche suffered under that incident.

It became worse after Dudley told her that he would leave the city to hunt the culprit of the massacre. His words still echoed in her ears like an old sad song. "I owe that to Mom Kitty. And to the other 230 people."

That was almost seven years ago. And now Dudley was back and he had the blood of an old defenseless man on his hands.  
"Dudley you better tell me now what happened exactly in that apartment or I have no other choice than arresting you!" urged Kitty after a short break.

"As I said, self-defense."  
"Dudley that man was 62 years old. His name was Kelvin. Kelvin, Dudley! Such a guy isn´t dangerous!"

"You really think that?" giggled Dudley like he was laughing about her naivety. "He is maybe known to the state as Kelvin Mathew Rogers. But NSA knows him as Carlo Stevens also called 'Fingers'. Jugger, diamond thieve and Bank robber. Oh and he was violent one, too! You should read in his file about the incident in Copenhagen. So believe me Katswell, he was dangerous. I visited him to gain some information. He went mad and tried to kill me. So I got ahead of him."

"Jugger, NSA, Copenhagen? In what have you gotten into?"  
"That´s a long story…"  
"Well, I got time." Kitty crossed her arms in front of her chest and waited expectantly on Dudley´s answer.

"I´m not allowed to talk about that." Again she almost slapped him for that answer. This sentence was a boon and bane for all spies. On one hand you could imply in every interrogation of governmental agents that there are higher authorities what bought you time until they done all the paper work to gain your alleged security level.

On the other hand it meant a lot of paper work for interrogating agents. Besides, working with authorities was something no agent liked to do.  
"Anyway, it was funny but enough of that." Dudley stood up and stretched. "Ah, well good bye."

He wanted to leave the room but Kitty prevented him from that by stepping between him and the door. "Where do you think you going?"  
"Katswell, step aside."  
"First you tell me what you´re up to! And don´t lie to me."

"What do you think? I´m still hunting this damn bastard. And I´m so close to him that I can almost smell his fear." He pushed Kitty aside and walked into the office to his old desk. With one arm he shoved down the personal items of the present owner.

"Home sweet home." He laughed, sat down on the chair and laid his feet on the desk.  
"Dudley, stop it!"  
"Is that the stuff your new partner Katswell?"

"Yes and Rick will be angry when he returns!" screamed Kitty furiously. Dudley´s behavior was not worth discussing. And if Rick returned and see that he… maybe he wouldn´t be angry. More intimidated. Rick was Kitty´s new partner and protégé.

A little squirrel that wore a suit but he always looked like a child that tried daddy´s old suit on.  
Summarized he wasn´t the guy you would expect being the typical secret agent.  
"Get off his desk!"

"Nope" meant Dudley as he searched through the drawers.  
"Get off my partner´s desk Dudley!"  
"And again, nope. That´s my desk now. And because that´s your partners desk, I´m your new partner."

"That doesn´t work like that." Protested Kitty.  
" Oh, this time it does. And you will help me to get the culprit! You help me to avenge the people no matter what it cost!"


	2. Rain

Petropolis wasn´t London, that was for sure. But the last weeks it shared the same weather condition as the English metropolis. It rained cats and dogs. Not literally of course, that would be a mess. Also it was very warm for the 17th December.

The reverend stepped out of the small aircraft into the pouring rain. The moisture on his face felt releasing. He was captured in this small tin can for almost six hours so he was just happy that he could move his feet in that moment and breathe fresh air.

The little brown suitcase holding tight in his right hand he strode slowly over the runway enjowing the cold shower.  
"It´s been a while." He thought as he approached to the big terminal building which piled up like a mountain in front of him.

With getting closer to it fear and excitement grew in his heart. He had these feelings since his old friend called him three days ago with the words. "Get everything ready. Project 'Nemesis'. We´ll get him!" These were words the reverend really didn´t want to hear. It would mean trouble, it would mean violence and it would mean that his friend could get hurt again.

Things that he shouldn´t tolerate since he has been ordained. But he also owed his friend to much to refuse his request. He stopped for a short moment and touched of the rosary he always wore around his neck. It was a good time for a little prayer.

Just he, the rain and god were out here and he was certainly able fade out the rain. Kneading the little pearls on his necklace he prayed for two things. First that this mission comes fast to an ending and second that he didn´t have to add a few more pearls to his rosary. Even if he was engrossed in his talk with god he recognized the dark figure that came closer to him.

"Most people try to avoid such a heavy rain, Nefarius my friend." Remarked the figure mockingly with his dark rough voice. It was so close now that Nefarius could identify it as the midsize, inconspicuous dog with grey fur who was wearing a grey shirt, a suit pants and square glasses he was looking for anyway.  
"Well, Scratch. I´m not like the most people." He retorted with his priest baritone and patted the wet shinning bald head of the dog.

Scratch ginned amused and held the umbrella he was holding also over Nefarius head now, giving him shelter from the rain.  
"It´s been a while since we´ve seen the last time." Meant Nefarius and let the rosary go.  
"I know, two years if I´m not mistaken. I think we haven´t met since Paraguay."

"Right, thanks for that again."  
"Don´t mention it. You saved my ass there too." Smiled Scratch in his warm and friendly way. On the one hand he always had this smile with that he could melt an ice-block and on the other hand he could break all bones in your body just with a few well-placed hits.

Nefarius still wondered where he learnt that. But Scratch never wanted to talk about that. Generally he didn´t talk much about his past and Nefarius believed that that what he told him was a mixture of lies and half-truths. And it was hard to differ the half-truths from the lies.

However Nefarius wasn´t the man who wanted to dig in the past of someone else without permission. "When he´s ready, he´ll tell me." Was his point of view.  
"Well, as I see, you are a priest now?" asked Scratch as he held the door of the terminal building open for him.  
"Yes, I think it was the right decision."

"But you see the irony?"  
"No, not really." Nefarius played unknowing. Did Scratch really refer to the things that happened in the past?  
"You´re name is Nefarius. That´s the Latin word for godless, sacrilegious. And now you´re a priest. And let´s not start talking about the consonance of Nefarius and nefarious."

Nefarius just sighed and shook his head. That was Scratch´s strange humor, it was as strange as his Latin-tic. In almost every conversation he incorporated a Latin word or quote. At least he hadn´t refer to the things happened in Paraguay.

"Yeah, yeah really funny." Nefarious rolled his eyes and he and Scratch walked through the crowd passengers who stood near the exit ready to get picked up by their relatives or friends. Towards them another crowd stood with cardboard signs with names written on. Mainly with family names.

Scratch and Nefarius joined the first group and tried to fuse as good as possible with them to one waiting crowed.  
"Besides… how did you manage it to pass all the security personal and get on the runway?" Nefarius asked as his eyes scanned the group with the signs.

"That wasn´t so hard. I know a few tricks." Giggled Scratch mischievously.  
"Oh god… how many guys have you killed?" Nefarius conclude from the mischievous grin that his friend had on his lips.

"No" replied Scratch a bit insulted. "I just got out of the way of the security guys and avoided every camera. That´s all!"  
"Really?"  
"Really and… Oh look over there." Scratch pointed with his finger at a tall slim lion that was holding a sign with the word Nemesis written on it.

"Discreet like always." Thought Nefarius shaking his head looking at the sign. "Why didn´t you just call us over the speakers here"  
The loin itself not looked like the proverbial king of animals. Actually his sight had nothing royal. He was gaunt and seemed kind of dirty. He also had these weird eyes which seemed never to fix anything.

Definitely not a guy you would invite to a cocktail party. But exactly the guy Nefarius and Scratched searched for.  
"Seneca, good to see you." The loin didn´t answer, he just turned around and ordered them with a gesture to follow them.

"Charming as always." Sighed Nefarius as they followed them.  
"Hey, you should know him by now. It´s just how he is."  
"Okay but he could at least shake our hands. I mean that´s just unpolite."  
Scratch shook his head tired of that conversation and sat onto the backbench of the old luxus limousine.

Nefarius joined him and as the doors were closed hit Seneca the gas. Both passengers in the back were pushed into the soft red fabric of the backbench.  
"Dammit, Seneca!" shouted Nefarius as the car reached normal tempo. He winched immediately as he heard the words that escaped his mouth. "Excuse me Lord." He added guilty.

"Well I don´t think that god is angry just because you curse, reverend." said Scratch emphasizing the word 'reverend' mockingly.  
"Well son, maybe he isn´t angry but avoiding words like that results in better manners."  
"That´s kind of true." Admitted the grey dog laughing. "Anyway. Now that we´re here and no foreign ears are able to eavesdrop we can finally come to business."

He cleared his throat and handed out a few similar keys to anyone in the car. "Standard protocol. You all know what that means."  
Nefarius knew exactly what that means and he could slap Scratch every time when he hears the words standard protocol from him. Standard protocol meant much work.

It described mainly how to behave while you´re planning a big coup. First you have to choose a Headquarter. It´s a cheap motel room in most cases. But that´s of course not all. You won´t stay long in that room. The protocol stated that that room should not be used longer than two days. What means that within 48 hours the whole equipment first gets transported to the place then it gets put up, used and then it gets dismantled and transported to the new Headquarter.

If you remind that it could took usually a few months to plan a big thing you can imagine that this routine is very annoying. Besides there are things like the whiteboard Scratch always used which were very heavy. So standard protocol is really no fun.

"Is it really…"  
"Necessary, yes" completed Scratch Nefarius before he could finish his sentence.  
"Okay, okay… Uhm… Scratch?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Look and count." Scratch looked around in the car like Nefarius ordered him. He smacked his hand against his forehead as he realized it.

"Oh nooo…"  
"Yes." Confirmed the priest. "We have a driver, we have purchase expert and we have you… whatever you do."  
"Cerebrum et musculus, amice." Explained Scratch raising his index finger. "Brain and muscle. But your right we´ll need someone who can open a safe for that… What about Fingers? "

"You know I give credit to Fingers but that guy is about 75 years old. We need someone else."  
"You´re kind of right." Admitted Scratch scratching his chin. "We can´t ask Adsin…"  
"Poor soul." Nefarius let his head sink.  
"Don´t worry, we´ll get our revenge… Anyway, we need someone who can open stuff…"

"What about Marry? She´s the best, I heard." interjected Seneca with his high squeaky voice which also counterpointed the reputation of species.

"No!" replied Nefarius firmly. "I will not put Adsin´s daughter at risk."  
"What Adsin had a daughter? When he had the time to start a family." Asked Scratch confused.  
"If it´s important you´ll take the time." Replied Seneca from the drivers seat.

"Hey! Just for the protocol, I repeat, we won´t put her at risk." Stated Nefarius.  
"But if she´s really the best we´ll need her." Meant Scratch almost pleading.  
"She won´t participate! She´s not so obsessed of that like you! Besides I wanted to talk about that with you. Do you really want that? You know that this has a high chance to fail and…"

"No. Forget it. I´ve tried that for seven years and I´ve never been so close to it like now. I won´t stop and I´m doing that with or without you." Scratch said with anger in his voice.

"You can count on me Scratch. I owe you much. But remember my words, like you our enemy will spare no effort to prevent us. You know how powerful he is."  
"I know that." Said Scratch calmly and put his cellphone out. He had to book a table in this 'fancy restaurant' and he had to invite 'Marry' to that.

**-Well, here are the villains. They look strange and they are strange. I hope you like them... well is liking villains even good?-**


	3. In flagranti

"Thomas Steiner aka Seneca." The projector threw a file photo of a gaunt lion that scowled into the lens. "Nationality maybe German or Austrian but he could also be from Switzerland but definitely from Europe. His cover name comes from the roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca. He was a stoic. And Steiner is called like that because he is not saying much so he is stoic. Either in an interrogation or when he kills his victims. But his main quality is that he is an unbelievable driver. The best in business."

Dudley pushed a button on a little remote and the picture of a rat with an eyepatch. The rat gazed gritting his teeth towards the audience. But nevertheless, and that even if he made this angry face, the rat had something kind in its eyes. Something that comforts you and calms you. Kitty had never thought that that guy would be a criminal.

"Ilija Petrović aka Nefarius. Nationality Serbian. This is an older photo of him. Since almost two years he is reverend Ilija Petrović. So his criminal companions maybe call him Reverend Nefarius or just Reverend. His trademark is a rosary. Every pearl on it stands for a victim he killed. He is an expert for thefts of all kinds. And he can provide you with anything you want. And last but not least…" One push on the remote later a bald-head dog with grey fur and green eyes stared slightly grinning into the camera.

In a contrast to Nefarius Kitty knew immediately that this guy committed a few dirty deeds in the past. "This man is a ghost. I have no idea who he is or where he comes from. I just know the cover name of this bastard. Mr. Scratch. I guess he called himself scratch because he escapes out of every situation without any scratch… but as I said that´s just a guess." Dudley paced up and down the floor and became angrier and angrier the longer he thought about him.

"I´ve been following that guy for seven years now and every time I almost got him that motherf*cker disappears! Every single time."  
"Calm down Puppy." Reassured him the chief. "Tell us more about that guy."  
"There´s not much I could tell. He is an evil mastermind…"

"Maybe that´s a reason why he c..c..couldn´t catch him." Keswick poked grinning Kitty who stood beside him with his elbow.  
"WHAT HAVE YOU SAID?!" With foam in front of his mouth Dudley rushed to Keswick. "DO YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU LITTLE PRICK?!"

"Whoa Dudley calm down." Kitty stepped defending in front of Keswick. "Why are you so angry?"  
"Because this guy isn´t just an any criminal! He is capable of the Petropolis massacre!"  
"What? He? Do you even have evidences for that?"

"I had." Admitted Dudley and beat his fist at the projector making the device crack into two parts. "But that bastard destroyed them two years ago in Paraguay. After that he and his team disappeared of the radar. Two years I tried to find their trace until a lucky coincidence helped me. One of my contacts informed me that a guy called Adsin, also part of Scratch´s team, is here in this city. So I had to interrogate him."

"Yeah, I saw that." Said Kitty disgusted because the snapshots of Dudley stabbing that old man came back to her mind. But that all explained at least why he is so aggressive and tensed. He was still haunting the butcher. It was definitely hard for him to be always so close to that guy but never able to catch him. That must be so frustrating after seven years. But nevertheless that was no reason to stab an old man, at least that was Kitty´s point of view.

"Well everyone I told you everything. I also have a file full with confirmed stories about him." Dudley threw a big file on the table. "So I´m a free man now?" He insisted on a deal he and the chief made before this little presentation started. If Dudley had a good explanation for everything he was allowed to leave.

"I stick to my word, agent Puppy. But you stay in the city."  
"That is exactly what I want." Dudley walked back to his new cubicle and sat down. Kitty followed him, still angry that he took Rick´s desk away. The poor boy almost cried as Dudley screamed at him after he just asked "Sir, why are you sitting at my desk."

The storm began with this little question. Dudley shouted, threw things after him and of course insulted him in with words Kitty had never heard before. Rick was gone since this incident and Kitty hoped that he wouldn´t quit. The boy had potential. Well, he wasn´t like Dudley when he started. Rick was more the quiet guy, not so overexcited and crazy like Dudley. But however he was a good agent.

"Dudley, go away from that table." He growled as she saw him laying his feet on it.  
"Try to force me." Said Dudley winked seductively, what made Kitty blush a little.  
"Oh Katswell, how could you become a T.U.F.F. agent without even the ability to hide your emotions?"

The red from Kitty´s cheeks spread now over her whole face. She wanted to say something but decided to turn around and leave. She would punish him with silence. That was the one thing with that she could wear him down in the past.

She could remember that one day as she punished him by accident. It was the day after the dentist took out two of her wisdom teeth. Her face was so swollen that she couldn´t even speak. Dudley somehow not understood why her face was in such a bad condition and as he asked and Kitty gave him no answer he thought that she was somehow angry.

The whole day he provided Kitty with everything she could think of. In retrospect that was because if Dudley had a feeling of guilt he did almost everything to make it up to that person. That was just so sweet of him.

But would that have an effect on him now? He changed very much. Dudley wasn´t the person Kitty knew from back then. He wasn´t the cute nice guy anymore. He now was… well… an asshole. And not a good one.

But at least she hadn´t stand him now. It was 5 p.m. and work was already over. Usually today she had the night shift but with Dudley there today the chief released her from that. Especially after all what happened before and shortly after the massacre.

But now she would go home in her apartment where her boyfriend Eric waits for her. Kitty began to smile as she thought about that. She would tell him anything and he would listen attentively to everything.

"Maybe he will even open a bottle of wine" Kitty thought as she hopped into the T.U.F.F. car and drove towards home. Seven years ago she and Dudley were couple. Even if nobody around them believed it. She often heard things like _"You´re dating agent Puppy?! … Why?!"_ The people just couldn´t believe it that he and she got together.

It was a great relationship. They loved each other and cared, they reach a level of familiarity that most people never reach after ten years of marriage! Everything was perfect in their little world until the massacre happened. That was what changed Dudley. That was drove them apart. She never knew why he left back then.

His explanation was that he had to rethink everything and that he had to find the killer. This one sentence haunted her all the time. _"I owe that to Mom Kitty. And to the other 230 people." _  
She often talked to her therapist about that. She sometimes believed that if she said something Dudley had maybe never left.

But the therapist always had this one sentence for her. "According to how I asses Mr. Puppy you could have said anything. He already made the decision in that moment."  
Nevertheless Kitty was angry that she hadn´t at least tried it.

Anyway, she shouldn´t think about the choices she hadn´t made, she should look into the future. After she waited a long time for Dudley she decided that it was over. So she looked forward and found happiness just some steps from her cubicle away. Eric, the water delivery guy, was maybe not the brightest bulb but a really nice guy.

He reminded her of Dudley sometimes. Their relationship has already last for four years. Kitty slowly got curious if Eric would finally ask her the question. If he does she would already know her answer. "Yes."

She got out of her car she parked in front of her apartment building and walked through the foyer to the elevators. Tired she pressed the button and got in. Even if she lived on the second floor she used the lift sometimes. Especially when the work wore her so much out that she wouldn´t manage to climb the 60 stairs up to her apartment. Today was such a day.

Kitty shuffled the last few steps from the elevator to her apartment door and opened it. The apartment seemed to be empty.  
"Also not bad" she thought as she lay down on the couch. "I can take a quick nap until Eric comes."

Her eyes slowly narrowed until she could just recognize coarse shapes of the things in her line of vision. Normally that was the moment when she would go over to the land of dreams but something kept the sweet sleep away from her. She didn´t realize what it was first. It seems like it was a sound, like someone beating against the wall.

Kitty listened closer to the sound. There was a soft moan that went hand in hand with the beating sound. "What is that?" She sat up on the couch and listened again. "From where does that come from?"

With a bad feeling in her stomach Kitty got up from the couch and pulled out her gun. Tiptoeing search Kitty for the source of the sound and came step by step closer to it. In front of her bedroom door she finally stopped. The sound must came from there. No doubt.

"Someone is in there…" in her mind she counted to three and forced the door with her shoulder open. She expected much but not what she saw in there. Her boyfriend lying in their bed with some big breast bunny sitting naked on his groin. The first surprised look on her face change to an angry and unbelieving stare.

"Uhm… uh… Kitty, it´s not what it looks like." Stammered Eric with eyes full of fear.  
"So? Try it." Kitty had unbelievable calmness in her voice. The calmness of a killer ready to strike.  
"Well… Uhm… Gina and I were just cleaning up here as she stumbled and I stumbled…"

"And you fell into her? Do you really expecting me to BELIVE THIS SHIT?!" Kitty yelled so loud that the whole building must have heard her. "GET OUT OF HERE! BOTH OF YOU!"  
"But darling…"

"DON´T DARE CALLING ME DARLING! GET THE F*CK OUT OF HERE!" She repeated and let her finger glide slowly to the trigger. That was a more persuasive argument for Eric. He grabbed Gina and some of his clothes and ran out of the apartment.

Kitty was alone again. Everything around her turned, her head couldn´t really grasp what just happened. And to make matters worse it began to hurt now.  
"I… need some fresh air." she gasped to herself as she stumbled to the apartment door.

**-Seems like our villains are real professionals...and maybe psychopaths. And Eric... I´m not really a fan of him. But what do you think? Just write it into the reviews-**


	4. A Disgusting burger

Marry drummed her fingers nervously on the table. What she heard from this grey furred canine wasn´t her liking. It left a bad taste like the awful burger she just ate. What the guy suggested was almost suicide. No, it was far beyond that it was just pure suicide. Nothing else.

She sighed and took a sip of her drink. Should she really do that? She hesitated, she bickered with herself. But on the other hand that was a unique chance offered to her. One of these chances you get once in a lifetime and you just not give away so easy. And then she was also young, thirsty for some action, a hothead that usually doesn´t hesitates but acted.

So she sat there and thought while the old lads on the other side of the table exchanged nervous looks. They might know that it was unsure if she would help them but they needed her what also brought her in a wonderful position to negotiate.

She could ask for anything and they would try to get it for her. But nobody was as good as her except for her father. But he was watching the world from six feet under now.  
"Well?" asked Scratch smiling at her. He gave her his legendary smile which could melt an ice block. How you could say no to that smile?

"I don´t know…" replied Marry tormented. "I really don´t know I wanted to stop doing this, you know? I wanted to go back to school then finish school and then I wanted to go studying or getting a normal job."

"Girl, how old are you? 16? 17? You just started." Meant Scratch with incomprehension in his voice.  
"Yeah I know but, the national bank? Isn´t that a bit too much?"  
"We have to think big. With little actions it´s almost impossible to distract them. And you could get much and…"

Scratch wanted to continue persuading her but Nefarrius laid his hand on his mouth and said to Marry. "You don´t have to do that. We´ll find another one if you don´t…"  
"Another one?!" said Marry insulted. "There is no one who is no one better than me!"

"So you´re in?" probed Scratch.  
"Only if I get a villa and one of these big sport cars… and ten thousand dollar cash."  
"Okay." Said Scratch in a way he sounded like 'I´m paying this from my patty cash'. What could be true, rumor has it that he controlled the cocaine trafficking of the east coast.

"Oh and stop smiling at me Scratch. This smile should be forbidden like this piece of meat here they call burger." She waved the burger in front of Nefarrius nose and threw it back on the plate. "And for the next lunch we go to a real restaurant, not to a fast food… No, it shouldn´t even called like that! That can´t be called food! What is 'Snap in a box' anyway? Why are we even here? There are tons of good restaurants in this city and you take me to the only one that serves patty pressed crap!"

"Patty pressed crap, that´s good" giggled Scratch. "Well, I know the owner very well. Right Snaptrap?" he called to the counters and not a second later a tall rat wearing a yellow 'Snap in a box' uniform rushed to the table.

"Y..Yes?" He asked while sweat poured down his forehead.  
"You´re not eavesdropping, do you?"  
"N..no Sir. I was just cleaning the counter." Snaptrap´s fingernails drilled fearful into the cloth he was holding in his hand.

"That´s good. Because it would be a shame if something leaves this establishment, right?" Scratch pulled a knife out of his pocket and rammed it into the table. "Now you better disappear Snaptrap."  
"Y..Yes Sir." Snaptrap bowed so deep that he could almost kiss the ground and disappeared behind the counter again.

"Oh my good… What have you done to that poor soul?" asked Nefarius giving Scratch a shocked look.  
"I borrowed him money… but I don´t know why he´s so afraid." Shrugged Scratch. "And in the end it doesn´t matter for me as long as I can exploit his fear."

"You´re an asshole Scratch." Remarked Marry disgusted.  
"You don´t say girl." He laughed. "Anyway, before we come to my plan we need a name for our new member. Ideas?"  
"Scratch, let´s stay with the name Marry." Sighed Nefarius annoyed. Sometimes his Latin-tic was really annoying.

"Nope. That´s kind of a ritual."  
"But a stupid one."  
"You know what was a stupid ritual? That what Adsin always did." Said Scratch.

As she heard the code name of her father was said Marry just had to ask.  
"What do you mean, Scratch."  
"Well, do you never asked yourself why his codename was Adsin?" Marry replied by shaking her head. "It´s short for ad sinistra. Of the left hand. Your Dad made everyone who worked with him cutting of the little finger of his left hand… even if he never did that. Very similar to me. I also give the people I work with Latin names even if I don´t have one."

Marry stared in disbelieve at Scratch and asked "What?!"  
The three guys raised their left hands to show her what they mean. On every of their left hands the small finger was missing.

"Also your dad wanted that we caring the fingers around with us." Scratch pulled out a little white furred finger out of one of his pockets. "Yeah your Dad was kind of sick… but we liked him for that. Anyway, let´s think… how about Parva?"

"What does that mean?" probed Marry curious.  
"That means little girl." Scratch grinned again but this time very evilly.  
"No! I want another name." she protested.

"Who is for Parva." Scratch asked into the group. He and Seneca raised their hands. "Okay, then it´s decided."  
"Hey!" complained Marry. "Me and Nefarius are against that!"  
"Yeah but my voice counts double!" he said giving Seneca a high five. "And now enough of that. Everyone quiet, especially you Parva. Let´s discuss the plan, let´s discuss Nemesis."

Meanwhile on the streets of Petropolis Kitty was strolling around to free her head of the things she just saw. A single question rushed through her mind and again and again she mumbled the same words.

"How could I be so stupid?" It was always the same, when she got involved with somebody the guy broke her heart. No matter if it was Eric or Dudley. But at least Dudley hadn´t betrayed her. He just left. However, in retrospect, the thing that Dudley did was worse than what Eric just did.

Okay, of course, Eric betrayed her with that girl and broke her heart. But Dudley broke her heart and left in a time in which she really needed him. She was mentally as well as physically in a bad condition back then. She had suicidal thoughts and nightmares almost every night about the massacre.

She saw this psychopath firing into the crowd turning with his gun towards her accompanied by the terrible loud gunfire. Then she always woke up. She never saw what happened after that, but the people told her. Dudley managed it to made his way to her through the bulletstorm. He lifted her up and ran eight blocks to the next hospital and that even if he had also been wounded.

He saved her life through that and then he left her. But luckily didn´t compared these two things right now, even if she will do that sooner or later. She just kept on strolling and mumbling and kicking the rarely occurring empty cans on the sidewalk. She averted her gaze from the ground and looked finally up.

"I hate my life…" Kitty sighed and tried to find out where she was. In front of her was Snaptrap´s old restaurant 'Snap in the box'. After its opening nobody had believed that it would be able to hold itself on the market so long. It was quiet impressive even if Kitty suspected that Snaptrap just launders the money of his criminal profits with it. But she still wasn't able to prove that.

Anyway she could use one of these awful hamburgers right now so she didn´t hesitate to enter the restaurant. She stopped short as she saw a very intimidated shaking Snaptrap behind the counter. As he saw her he just pointed discreetly with his finger in a corner of the room.

Confused followed Kitty the giveaway and recognized a few faces she saw a few hours ago. Steiner, Petrović and Scratch, three searched criminals just sat in that burger restaurant and ate fast food. Maybe she could end this crappy day with three arrests?

Again Kitty didn´t hesitate and walked towards the little table on which also a young cat girl sat. She looked pretty in her blue jeans and black leather jacket. Her hair was tied together to a short braid. All in all she looked nondescript.

Kitty built herself up in front of the group and grinned at them with her gun pulled out. The group first hadn´t recognized her and carried their conversation regardless on. The last thing Kitty heard before Scratch began to look at her taken aback was something about something called 'Nemesis'.

"Well well well, what do we got here?" asked Kitty triumphing with her gun pointing alternately at every head that was on the table. But her smile turned into a frown in the second everyone on the table pulled their guns out of the holster.

"Agent Kitty Katswell, finally we meet." Said Scratch who now was the one who grinned. "It´s a pleasure."  
"Not for me."  
"Oh come on, you barely know me. I bet if we two talk a bit we can become best friends." Scratch turned to his accomplices. "You all, you can go. We´re done for today. We meet you at the hideout."

"But Scratch…" tried Nefarius to persuade him not to send them away. But Scratch replied with a peremptorily "Go."  
With their guns pointed at Kitty the three left the table reluctantly and Scratch ordered Kitty with a move of his gun to sit down.

"Well Miss Katswell, to what do I owe the honor of your visit?"  
Kitty sat down and looked into Scratch green eyes which sparkled full of insanity.  
"Coincidence, nothing more."

"That hurts a bit Miss Katswell." Giggled Scratch. "But anyway, even if you came by just by coincidence I suppose that you came her to arrest me? Is that right?"  
"Exact." Replied Kitty baldly.  
"Well, I´m sorry to disappoint you but that won´t happen. Not today not ever. You can´t stop me and for your sake I would advise you to stay away from that all."

"So you suddenly care for the people around you, after killing 231 innocent people?"  
After saying that Scratch´s expression changed completely, it somehow became cold and stern.  
"I warn you, you have no idea what you´re messing with…"

"NO IDEA?!" Kitty beat her fists on the table. Wrathful she showed him the scar near her heart.  
"You see, you better stay away from us."  
"Forget it! I will get you and I will get you whole crew! All of you will end up behind prison bars!"  
"Well then, alia iacta sunt. We´ll see again Miss Katswell." Scratch stood up from the table but Kitty tried to stop him by pointing with her gun at him.

"Where do you think you going?"  
"What do you think you doing?" retorted Scratch laughing. "Do you really believe that you would get me now? No not today. But we´ll see again soon… how about tomorrow? Meet me at the Petropolis Plaza hotel. Oh and don´t forget your partner. I´m looking forward to see Mr. Puppy again. Until then good night." He turned around now and walked out of the restaurant.

Kitty watched him in disbelieve. She now understood why Dudley hated this guy so much. He was slippery as an eel and had something that made you feel uneasy. And then this smile… so different from his whole behavior. Just strange. But Kitty was sure that she would get this bastard. Because she got them all, always.

**-Kitty and Scratch first met... and nobody was killed! Coincidence? I don´t think so. Well, hope you liked it so far. If you liked it, write a review ;D-**


	5. Two steps ahead

**-Here it is, chapter 5. Hope you´ll enjoy it :D-**

With angry eyes watched Dudley through the window pane into the little room. Snaptrap sat behind the window on a chair and writhed full of discomfort. He looked around hectically, like someone followed him or watched him. His breathing was restless and the sweat dropped down on the iron table, so much that even little puddles had formed.

He behaved like that since Kitty brought him to T.U.F.F. after that little meeting with Scratch.  
The thing that made Dudley so aggressive right now was that Snaptrap said, in spite of his nervousness, nothing. And even Kitty who walked around him and tried to calm him down with pacifying words couldn´t make him speak.

She promised him anything. Immunity from prosecution, protection, a safe place… nothing helped. But she wouldn´t give up so easy. So she tried it again.  
"Snaptrap, if you don´t talk we can´t help you! Tell us all you know about him. Believe me, we can protect you."

"HA!" laughed Snaptrap mockingly. "You have no idea who are you messing with! That guy is crazy. If I talk he will definitely kill me… in a painful way."  
For a moment Kitty gazed helpless at her reflection in the window as an idea came to her mind. Snaptrap was so afraid of Scratch, why not exploit that.

"Well, Snaptrap. We can´t force you to help us. I think we have to let you go… out there… alone. Strange, huh?"  
"What do you mean Katswell?" asked Snaptrap unsuspectingly.  
"It´s strange that T.U.F.F. let go a dangerous criminal. There is no logic behind this… except this criminal helped us."

"You… you wouldn´t do that." Stammered Snaptrap afraid.  
But Kitty already stood in the doorframe and said. "I think you know where the door is." She turned around and pretended to go but Snaptrap stopped her before she had the chance to close the door.  
"Okay, okay. I´ll tell you everything if you but please don´t do that."

"Spit it out" Kitty sat down on the other side of the table with a triumphing grin.  
"Well, I don´t know much about him, just rumors. And if the half of them is true you should just forget this guy. I mean I heard something that he and his henchmen killed the citizens of a whole village. Just because he was in the mood for that! Imagine, 700 people killed because he was in the mood. I also heard that he liked to cut of the little finger of the left hand of his victims. And I heard that he ones strangled a child because it annoyed him."

Kitty didn´t knew if she could believe the stuff that Snaptrap told her. Nothing of that was in the file of confirmed stories Dudley gave them. But she knew that behind every rumor there is a piece of truth and that piece of truth was enough to amplify her disgust against Scratch.

"That´s of course terrible Snaptrap, but we need something more concrete."  
"I don´t know anything…" He couldn´t say any more word because Dudley rushed into the room and grabbed him by the collar. In his opinion Kitty was getting too soft on him again so he had to do something.

"Listen to me scum, I want the place where he is. His location, got me? LOCATION!"  
"I..I.." Snaptrap almost began to cry.  
"Dudley leave him…" shouted Kitty.  
"Shut up Katswell!" snarled Dudley at his partner. "Okay, rat. Let´s play a game I once played in Paraguay as I tried to find Scratch. It´s called brake the nail." He pulled out a giant knife and set it under Snaptrap´s fingernail. "Talk to me."

"Okay, that´s enough." Hissed Kitty and pushed Dudley away from Snaptrap before he could harm him. "Calm down, Dudley. And you Snaptrap. I think you know where the cells are. Just say the guards that I send you and that they should take you into protective custody."

Snaptrap nodded intimidated and ran out of the room.  
"What the hell is wrong with you." shouted Kitty at Dudley as Snaptrap was gone. "What was that? Good cop and psychopathic cop on rampage?!"

"What do you mean? That was absolute standard if you live in Paraguay for a while."  
"It doesn´t matter where you spend the last years and what you done there but you can´t do that here! UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Sighed Dudley annoyed. "This whole interrogation was useless anyway."  
"Why useless? Even if we just heard some rumors we got at least some information."  
"Oh Katswell, come on." Moaned Dudley annoyed. "I could tell you a few more gruesome stories about him. I for example saw him killing a guy with a spoon. Oh and I can tell you that the thing with the little finger is wrong. He doesn´t cut the finger of his victims off, one of the guys working with him cut every member of his team a finger off. It´s a sign of… bonding between them I think."

"That´s the sickest shit I´ve ever heard." Meant Kitty frowning.  
"Hey, I haven´t invented that Katswell. Anyway, where should we start searching now? Ideas?"  
"Well… actually yes. He told me that I should meet him tomorrow in the Petropolis Plaza hotel. And I should take you with me."

"Why haven´t you told me that right away? Damn Katswell, we could have skipped this shit with Snaptrap and go to sleep." Dudley spun on his heel around and left the room without another word leaving Kitty alone. She stood the bewildered for moment. Dudley really forgot how to have a real conversation.

He had forgot much things after these years… even the relationship they had and the feeling she had for him. That´s at least what Kitty thought. And it hurt her that he just forgot the time she was never able to forget completely.

"No." She thought. "It isn´t the time to reminisce about old times now. I better get some sleep."  
Kitty walked out of the interrogation room over the stairs to the office. Determinedly she stepped to her cubicle and pulled out the old futon from under her table. After long working days, which heaped over the last months, she sometimes slept on that thing.

It wasn´t really comfortable but it fulfilled its purpose. Kitty lay down on that green thing and curled herself up. Seconds later she was gone. And a felt minute later she was rudely awaken by Dudley who poked her with his foot.

"Stand up Katswell, we got to go!" and then he disappeared again.  
"Oh friendly Dudley, very friendly" the voice Kitty used had more than the just the typical waken up to early sarcasm in it. She sat up on her futon because she knew if she was kept on lying she would fall asleep again.

Stumbling she got up and shuffled into the little T.U.F.F. tea-kitchen. Her tired brain demanded just one thing right now, coffee. Black and without sugar. That was how she liked her coffee. As she entered the kitchen she found Keswick already standing expectantly in front of the coffee machine.

"Good m..m..morning Kitty." He called ridiculously happy for that time in the morning. "You slept w..w..well?"  
"Nope. There is just too much stuff going on right now. And then these nightmares reappeared."  
Keswick now turned completely away from the coffee machine with a worried expression on his face.  
"Kitty, are y..y..you okay?"

"Yes… it´s just…"  
"Do you still go to Doctor P..P..Prince?" he interrupted her before she could explain anything.  
"Yes, of course. We even have an appointment tomorrow. Don´t worry Keswick, that times are over."

"Good." Meant Keswick released. "I don´t w..w..want to find you again in such a situation, Kitty."  
The thing Keswick referenced was a situation six years ago. Dudley was already gone and Kitty was in a bad psychological condition after the massacre. She had permanent panic attacks and felt followed everywhere she went.

To summarize it she was down for the count and needed help. Keswick and the chief agreed to keep a wary eye on her. After all they were here friends and also something like her family. Both of them couldn´t tell afterwards if it was a premonition or just luck what made them visiting her on that day. But they were in the right place at the right time and found her.

She lay on her couch motionless, her green eyes were wide open and stared into the emptiness. Warm blood dropped down from her wrist and dyed her white couch red. If the chief and Keswick hadn´t reacted so fast after they saw that, Kitty wouldn´t be among the living anymore.

They brought her to the hospital where they patched up her wounds. Then she was admitted to the psychiatric ward in order to heal her inner wounds which were much deeper than any wound she could inflict to her body. After some weeks there the psychiatrist meant that she wasn´t potentially suicidal anymore, but she had to go to a professional therapist every second week since then.

"I´m fine Keswick. The whole situation is just a bit confusing. Dudley is back and with him this crazy ass super criminal. Also Eric betrayed me and…"  
"Wait, w..w..what?! I knew it."  
"You knew?" asked Kitty confused.

"Well, of course I didn´t 'know' but I s..s..somehow knew that this would happen. I have to a..a..admit that I never liked that guy."  
"I realized that." Giggled Kitty and remembered every single angry glare that Keswick gave Eric as he didn´t look. "I have no luck with the guys."

"Don´t give up K..K..Kitty. You´ll find the right one."  
"Is that some kind of offer."  
"I´m afraid to d..d..disappoint you Kitty" laughed Keswick. "but I think I´m a l..l..little too old."  
"You think so? How old are you?"

"65 years."  
"65?!" asked Kitty surprised.  
"Yep" confirmed Keswick smiling.

"But you didn´t look like 65."  
"Well that wasn´t cheap. Anyway, I think the coffee is finished."  
Kitty wanted to take the cup Keswick just filled but her eye stroked her wristcom.

"Oh damn I´m late!" she ran with the full cup of hot coffee out of the kitchen and headed for the garage. Down there Dudley already sat in the T.U.F.F. mobile and waited angrily on Kitty.  
"Finally." He commented as she jumped into the car.  
"Let´s go." Said Kitty and Dudley hit the gas.

"Hey Miss Katswell." Greeted a voice from the backseat. Kitty turned around and looked into Rick´s face.  
"Oh hey Rick. I didn´t know that you come with us."  
"He´ll give us cover." Explained Dudley briefly.

"Yes, I´m looking forward to collect more experience together with you and Mr. Puppy."  
"Rick…" sighed Kitty a bit annoyed because she told him the next thing approximately a thousand times. "You can call me Kitty."

"Oh yeah right, sorry… Kitty."  
"You maybe are allowed to call her Kitty but you will go on with calling me Mr. Puppy or Sir." Growled Dudley.  
"Of course Mr. Puppy, Sir."  
"Very good." Smiled Dudley and parked the car. Kitty looked with big eyes into the face of her former partner. That has been the first time she saw him smiling out of happiness since he returned.

"Okay, to the plan guys. Rick." Dudley turned around on his seat and spoke directly to Rick. "I and Kitty go in there you stay behind and cover our backs. Got it."  
"Yes!"  
"Then let´s go." Dudley and Kitty got out of the car and entered the Foyer of the Petropolis Plaza hotel.

In the moment they entered a young ferret girl walked up to them and pressed them two bags of an expensive cloths store into their hands. Kitty and Dudley looked perplex at each other which commented the girl with the words.

"Go through that hallway over there. Mr. Scratch is already waiting for you in the hot tub in the backyard." What confused Dudley and Kitty just more.  
With thousand questions they walked into the backyard and saw Scratch sitting in one of the hot tubs. Grinning he lifted the Martini glass in his right hand to greet them.

"Ah, agent Katswell and agent Puppy. The locker rooms are over there. Get in something comfortable and join me in here. The water is just perfect."  
"Do you really think that this will happen?" Dudley meant and pulled out his gun.

"Oh Mr. Puppy… You disappoint me. Shouldn´t you know me? You wouldn´t believe what happens to that building if you shoot me now. Besides, I´m here to talk. This is a peace offer." That was even the truth. Meetings in hot tubs or pools were considered under spies as peace offers.

The water pretends any bug from working and nobody has found a good method to hide a gun in any bathing gear.  
Dudley was the first who finished changing. Scratch chose terribly looking bathing trunks for him. They looked like someone took the ugliest hawaii-shirt ever existed and converted it into bathing trunks which were even uglier than the shirt.

Dudley sat into the tub and waited together with his arch enemy for Kitty. In a contrary to the choice for Dudley, Scratch made a good choice for Kitty´s bathing things. He had chosen a black bikini for her that flattered her body. While the other two eyed her carefully she did the same with Scratch. She recognized something peculiar before she joint the others in the hot tub.

Scratch wasn´t free of scratches or better scars, he was covered with them. The most intimidating scratch, that made the others look tiny, was in the middle of his chest. It looked like someone had operated his heart after a heart attack or something. What was also odd, in opposite to his face Scratch´s body looked relatively young.

"Something is definetly wrong about that guy." thought Kitty as she sat down in the tub.  
"Ah, Miss Katswell. You made me really lucky with choosing the bikini. There was a bit more conservative bathing suit in the bag too." Scratch eyed her smiling as he sipped at his Martini. It felt really awkward for Kitty to get undressed by the eyes of this pervert. But one question tortured her.

"From where do you know my size?"  
Scratch emptied his glass and put it on a little table next to him. "I got a good sense of proportion… Oh and you better change the lock on your door."  
"What?! How could you get in and sneak around Eric?" she asked perplex.

"Well he was kind of preoccupied."  
"Who´s Eric?" asked Dudley interested.  
"The one she was dancing salsa in a horizontal position with."  
"Ahh, okay." Giggled Dudley understanding.

"What the hell?!" shouted Kitty. These two talked like old friends about her like she wasn´t there.  
"She´s right." Meant Dudley clearing his throat. "Enough smalltalk. Back to business. How are your lungs Scratch?"

The smile vanished from Scratch face and he touched the big scar on his chest with one hand.  
"Pretty good." he growled back trying to stay polite. "Everything grew back together just perfectly."  
"Congrats. Anyway, what wants scum like you to discuss with us?"

"Easy, I follow an old tradition of the Petropolis villains and tell you my plan before I strike."  
"Tss." Hissed Dudley disparagingly. "I thought you are better than them."  
"Oh, I am better than them but we should keep old traditions. They are part of our culture…"

"Come to the plan." Interjected Kitty before Scratch could hold a speech about traditions.  
"Me and my team planning to rob the Petropolis national bank… yeah…uhm… that´s all."  
"And for that we had to get here? Couldn´t you just write us a letter." Asked Dudley disappointed.

"I like the face to face talk more. Besides, don´t pretend that this doesn´t come in handy for you."  
"What do you mean?"  
Scratch answered by clapping his hands twice. A shot destroyed the relaxed mood of the other hotel guest. The people began to run headless around in pure panic and knocked over chairs tables and anything else they needed to knock over to get into the safety of the hotel building.

Kitty looked confused around, somewhere in the hectically fleeing crowd there was someone lying. As the crowd finally dissolved and hid in the building she could see that it was Rick who was lying there. He didn´t move and lay in a puddle of his own blood.

"Oh my god! Rick!" she cried.  
"Don´t try to f*ck me over. I´ll always be more than two steps ahead of you." Scratch stood up, grabbed a towel and got out of the hot tub. With the words "Vale, amicii" he said the two goodbye and walked calmly into the hotel.

Kitty jumped out of the tub and walked to the locker rooms. Her wristcom was there with which she wanted to call an ambulance for Rick. As she ran through the hallway to the locker rooms she just hoped that it wasn´t too late.

**-Well, Scratch is a real psychopath. Poor Rick. Also poor Kitty, she seemed to go through a hard time after the massacre. **  
**By the way, do you want the translations for these Latin quotes Scratch uses, or not? Pm me or write it into the reviews.-**


	6. You should have become a lawyer

Kitty paced nervously up and down the white sterile hallway of the Petropolis hospital. Rick has been in the operation room for a few hours now. Kitty still wasn´t really sure if he will make it. The wound maybe wasn´t deadly but he lost a lot of blood while the transport in the ambulance. And the fact that Rick had a very rare blood type didn´t make the situation better.

All this made Kitty pacing up and down. Dudley wasn´t with her, he left directly after Rick was shot with the T.U.F.F. mobile. What was really lousy of him. It was his idea to bring the kid to such a dangerous mission and now he didn´t even care about what happens to him. The strange thing was that Kitty somehow wasn´t even surprised by that.

Dudley maybe lowered the bar with that but somehow she expected that. He changed much, so much that she even wondered sometimes if that was even Dudley. Of course he looked like him but that was the only thing that connected him with the original Dudley, the fundamentally good guy with the warm blue eyes and the big heart.

Something must have happened in the last years that shrunk this big heart and chilled down the warmth in his eyes. And Kitty was convinced that she had to find out what that was. First she thought he would tell him that but the new Dudley would never do that. So she had to do that.

Kitty stopped pacing as an Orang-utan in a blood smeared green surgeon coat stepped through the door of the operation room and pulled the filter mask exhausted from his face.  
"Damn…" he panted.

"Doctor!" Kitty ran to him. "Doctor please tell me, how is Rick."  
"Mr. Lewis will make it. It was close but I think he should be over the worst now."  
"Oh god, thanks." Moaned Kitty released.  
"He almost bled to death but luckily we had enough blood of his blood type left. If you know someone who has blood type AB positive, please persuade him to donate blood. We´re really running out of that one." The looked at his watch and said then. "My shift is over, I going to catch some sleep."

"Thanks again Doc."  
"That is my job." The doctor turned around and walked down the empty hallway. Kitty leaned against a wall. At least that was over, one problem less. But still a lot of problems on the list. First of all Scratch.

The whole incident today showed her that this guy wasn´t a person to be trifled with. Behind his façade of friendliness and politeness slumbers a sick monster which won´t hesitate to do anything to reach his goals. Scratch was the kind of enemy you should be afraid of. Also his team was dangerous.

Kitty knew not much about them just that what she had from Dudley and the knowledge that one of them can shoot with a sniper rifle. Otherwise Rick wouldn´t be in this condition.  
While Kitty stood leaned towards the wall the chief and Keswick walked with worried expressions up to her.

"Agent Katswell, how is…"  
"He´ll be alright." Said Kitty cutting the chief short. "But it was close."  
"Good to h..h..hear that. At least he didn´t die… Damn Kitty! Why did y..y..you take him with you anyway?" snarled Keswick at her.

"That wasn´t my idea! Dudley wanted him on that mission!"  
"By the way, where is Agent Puppy?" the chief asked looking around.  
"He didn´t come with me to the hospital."

"What´s wrong with him? He has a contributory fault of this! He could at least have the grace to stay and to look what he done."  
"I don´t know what´s wrong with him, chief." Admitted Kitty. "It´s like he changed completely. Like his whole character made a 180 degree turn into the negative."

"Hm… well. I don´t have time to discuss that further. I´ll have to do some paperwork." The chief turned around and walked back the way he came from.  
"Oh wow… Sometimes he can be very cold." Commented Kitty as the chief was out of hearing distance.

"You have to understand h..h..him. This whole mission causes much paper work for him. He has to c..c..clean up your and Dudley´s mess."  
"I know, I know but I begin to open my heart and he just walks away." Sighed Kitty.  
"What d..d..do you mean?"

"It´s about Dudley. The whole situation confuses me. Especially now that Eric left me. That´s all."  
"I understand Kitty…"  
A long phase of silence arose until Kitty began to speak again. "Oh, I shouldn´t forget that. Do you know somebody who has the blood type AB positive? The Doctor asked me to ask around because it´s Rick´s blood type and they´re looking for donators."

"Actually I k..k..know someone! That is Dudley´s blood t..t..type."  
"Well, that´s at least something about him that can´t change." She laughed bitterly.  
"That´s right." Keswick joined her sarcastically laughter "His new behavior is really untypical, I think we should investigate in this direction. Maybe we can find something what happened in the last seven years that changed him… I mean beside the massacre. And then we could somehow understand his change. What do you think?"

Kitty just knew one answer to that. "Start digging!"  
Keswick smiled and ran into the same direction the chief ran. He got a lot of work to do. A lot of files waited to get read.

So it was again Kitty who stood there alone in the hallway. Sighing she looked at her watch. It was  
4 pm. No need to get back to work now. And she also couldn´t visit Rick. He was maybe still unconsciousness from the narcosis. So visiting him wouldn´t help him. Kitty decided just to go home.

Eric must have removed his stuff from her apartment right now so she would be alone if she arrives there. She jumped into the T.U.F.F. car and started the engine. She would maybe open a bottle of wine when she comes home and read a book. Or she would just go to bed right away. She was done with this day.

Another person wasn´t done with that day and this person was on his way to the same location Kitty left just a few hours later. A person just armed with a flower bouquet and a smile that could melt an ice block. Scratch walked determined towards the room in which he expected Rick Lewis. In front of the door stood a T.U.F.F. agent which was sent to the hospital by agency.

They should protect Rick from harm… they should protect him from him. But Scratch wasn´t stupid, he wouldn´t just walk in there without a disguise. Since his face wasn´t so known to all agents he decided that he would use a simple disguise. A false beard should be enough. And that was right Scratch passed the guard easily after telling him that he was a business partner of his father.

That was even easier than he expected. Usually he had to show a forged ID card or drivers licenses which he had with him of course. But not this time. "The T.U.F.F. agents really deteriorate." He smiled into himself.

Rick lay in his bed sleeping and calm. That should change. Scratch stepped still smiling onto Rick´s bed and turned off the faucet on the drip. Then he pulled out a syringe and injected something into Rick´s vein. Something that should wake him up.

"Wake up Ricky. We have to talk." The fluid worked very fast. A few minutes later Rick opened his eyes and looked directly into Scratch´s smiling face. His eyes widened I fear and if he hadn´t felt so weak he would have ran away. But the only thing he could do was sitting up in his bed.  
"Wh..What do you want from me?" he stammered.

"Calm down boy, calm down. Mors certa, hora incerta. And it won´t be today."  
"What?"  
"The death is certain but the hour is uncertain. But, as I said, it won´t be today."  
"Okay." Shivered Rick intimidated. "What do you want then?"

"Oh just a warning, my friend. For agent Katswell. Would you be so kindly to deliver this massage to her?"  
"Yes." Replied Rick fast trying desperately not to make Scratch angry.  
"Good. Tell her this. This is your last chance to quit this game of giants. Blood will be spilled and if you refuse this time again I can´t guarantee that it isn´t yours. You understood that Ricky?"  
Rick just nodded and didn´t dare to make a sound.

"Excellent my friend. Well that´s all for now. Take your time with giving her this message." Scratch turned around and walked to the door but stopped for a brief moment. "Oh, one last thing. If you tell someone besides Katswell that I was here. I´m going to kill. No more shoulder hits." Then he left so fast like he came and left Rick so full of fear that he had tears in his eyes.

Again his mother´s words shot into his head. "Don´t become a T.U.F.F. agent." She always preached. "That´s dangerous. And the payment is lousy." Rick realized now that both things were absolutely true. The thing with the payment he realized after he got his first paycheck. The amount was barely enough to maintain an accurate living standard. But you had to save money for two decades to buy a car. And Rick was a travelling fan, his aim was it to visit every county on this planet at least once. He was saving for a round-the-world-trip to achieve that. So he had two side jobs with that he raised the money for that. But now he was unable to work for a while, that means no money.

And then this whole thing with Scratch. It was hard enough to fight the usual villains like Snaptrap for him. They weren´t so dangerous but they kept him busy. However this new villain was a real tough one. One that punishes you for every mistake you do if you hunt him. And Rick was still new, he made a lot of mistakes like forgetting to check the surrounding area for enemies. What was rewarded with a bullet hole through his shoulder.

"I should have done what my mom said." He whispered to himself and then repeated the second phrase of his Mom which always came after the already mentioned. "Why haven´t I become a lawyer like my brother?" He hated the thought back then. The job was boring. But after a piece of lead drilled its way through your shoulder you begin to rethink some things.

Being a lawyer didn´t sound so bad anymore. Good payment and the only dangerous injuries in that job are paper cuts.  
"I have to rethink a few decisions… After a little nap." He meant to himself turned around and welcomed the pleasures of the sleep

-That was chapter 7, hope you liked it. Oh and by the way, please tell me how you liked it so far. Thanks :D-


	7. A deep hole

"Okay, let´s go through the checklist again." Scratch drummed with a pencil on the small clipboard he held. "Do we have the oxygen lance?"  
Smiling opened Nefarius a black suitcase in which a lot of tubes and thin iron pipes were lying in.

"Excellent. The hydraulic spreader?"  
Again opened Nefarius a suitcase which almost covered the half bed of the motel room in which they were. In it an metal device lay which looked like a big iron V.  
"Oh Nefarius you still know how to make me happy."

"I thought making you happy is if one of these young girls is giving you a…"  
"I don´t want to hear it." Called Parva in and plugged her ears with her fingers.  
Nefarius just looked at her a bit annoyed and shouted. "Giving you a glass of Scotch. Oh dear girl, you´re so young and your mind is so deep in the gutter."

Seneca watched that smirking and commented it with. "Wo er recht hat, hat er recht Mädel."  
"What? What did he said?" asked Parva the others confused. The two old man shrugged. She didn´t knew what this Seneca said but it couldn´t be something nice.

That guy has been suspect to her all the time since she met him. Maybe he just insulted her and she hadn´t even understood it. She wouldn´t allow him that.  
"Hey learn our language!"  
"I can speak your language." Giggled Seneca with his squeaky voice. "Aber ich sprech sie halt nicht gerne."

"What was that in the end?! He insulted me, right? Oh, I going to beat the shit out of you, you damn Hitler!"  
"Natürlich war ja mal wieder klar dass die Nazikarte gespielt wird! Das ist so erbärmlich Mädel!"  
"What has he said?!" probed Parva now more angry.

"What has he said what has he said" Seneca imitated her with an even higher and squeakier voice than the one he usually used. "Deine Platte kennt auch nur einen song, was?"  
"Oh I´m going to…" she raised her hand to slap him and Seneca also offered her his right cheeks with the words. "Versuchs doch."

But a loud angry scream called them both back to order. "SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" shouted Scratch. "OR I´LL BEAT YOU TWO BACK TO ORDER AND…" his loud angry voice suddenly turned into a heavy coughing which sounded unbelievable unhealthy. The expression on Scratch´s face contorted in pain and he coughed more and more uncontrolled.

The whole coughing came to ecstasy and stopped then abruptly. The hand Scratch pressed against his mouth all the time was moved away by him now. With an angry look on his face showed this hand to them before he rushed to the bathroom. The hand was covered in blood.

"Oh dear… Seneca, you know what to do know. Get some ice." Seneca nodded on that like an obedient solider and left the hotel room.  
"What´s wrong with him." Parva was completely surprised by whatever just happened to Scratch.

"Old story, really old story. And a long one too. I don´t know if it´s okay for Scratch if…"  
A retching sound came from the bathroom. Scratch seemed to regurgitate a lot more of this bloody mucus. But also a distorted "Tell here." Also came from the bathroom.

Nefarius sighed "Okay it all began five years ago. I was still part of the BIA.  
Bezbednosno-informativna agencija…" he looked at Parva who made a stupid face and added. "Serbian intelligence service."  
"Ah… Okay."

"Anyway, the agency sent me to Sierra Leone… Oh the heat down there was almost not bearable. You have to know I´m more used to colder areas. More pierogies than chakalaca. Anyway, I was down there for a reason. Our organization made a weapon trade with an up-and-coming weapon trader who promised us modern surface to air missiles but didn´t delivered."

"Wait Scratch traded weapons? I thought he began with drugs." Interjected Parva. She knew a few rumors about Scratch. Nothing certain. Something about an incident in Paraguay, the thing with the east coast and a few of risky but successful coups which made him to a living legend in the criminal scene.

"He was introduced to me as a weapon trader. Well, as I said, Scratch didn´t deliver and so my part began. My former organization couldn´t allow of course that someone would do that to them so they sent me to teach Mr. Scratch a lesson."  
"A lesson?"

"Kill him, kid." Replied Nefarius baldly. "A simple killing mission, I did that often enough. Go into the country, kill the target and disappear. Easy… at least that´s what I thought. But the country was in some kind of civil war or something. Some rebels captured me shortly after I set my first foot on their land. They didn´t really explain on which side they were or what they wanted. They just threw me into a hole. A dirty stinking latrine hole which the rebels used for their captivities as well as for their… urges."

"Uh… That´s disgusting." Commented Parva who imagined the scene. She stopped imagining it as she realized that her stomach was about to send her dinner back up.  
"You should have been there... Anyway, the rebels threw me headfirst into their excrements. I threw up a few times after I cleaned the dirt out of my face. The stench was just overwhelming. And it was dark in there, too. The rebels covered the hole if they didn´t use it." Nefarius began to whisper now.

"There I saw him for the first time. He sat in one of the drier corners and stared into the emptiness. His eyes seemed so empty… like the eyes of someone who is ready for his own death. Spooky."  
"Wow… what happened then?" probed Parva expectantly.

"I learned in the next few days what the word pain means. These guys were sick. They tortured us. Every single day. Beat us up till unconsciousness, gave their child soldiers stick with that they beat us up or burned us with hot pieces of iron. I got weaker and weaker every day. But Scratch… it was like that all couldn´t touch him. Two weeks passed until he spoke the first word to me. _'Hey you, if you can get anything what is useable as a weapon, bring it to me. I´ll get us out of here.'_ I usually had laughed about that but if you get tortured for two weeks you try to grab every straw. And a week later I had something for him. It was an arm-length piece of wire."

"Nothing more?" asked Parva.  
"Believe me that was enough. I went to sleep at night and at the next morning… it was unnaturally quiet. I climbed out of the latrine and saw… bodies. Everywhere. I strided weakly through the corpses and found Scratch. He stood behind a man that begged for his life. I recognized this guy. It was the leader of the rebels. He cried. _'Please, please NO!'_ but Scratch just laughed, laid the wired around his neck and pulled through his throat. The head fell to the ground like a ripe apple from a tree. The blood…"

"Spare me the details." Begged Parva disgusted.  
"Okay." Shrugged Nefarius. "But to come to the thing that I actually want to explain is that after being so long down in this hole, he must have been much longer down there than me, Scratch has caught some kind of chronicle lung disease. He sometimes begins to cough up blood. The bullet agent Puppy gave him in Paraguay didn´t help."

"What happened once in Paraguay?" That was a question that maybe revealed the most interesting fact about Scratch.  
"That´s something you don´t need to know." Scratch suddenly said as he went out of the bathroom.  
"How are you?" meant Nefarius lying his and on the shoulder of his friend.

"Bad weeds grow tall."  
"That comes from a short man. With no weed growing on his head." Nefarius polished with his hand laughing over Scratch´s head.

"Yeah, yeah always the same with that. Anyway, back to the plan. Seneca knows what he has to do so we don´t have to wait for him. Nefarius, you and me, we are in charge for the distraction and the hostages. Is everything prepared?"  
"Of course, I followed meticulously every step of what you wanted me to do."

"Excellent. Now to you Parva." Scratch turned smiling to her and she could saw that there was still a bit blood in the corners of his mouth. "You´ll have to go in there while we distract them. You got exactly 25 minutes. Take the stuff we need and get to the hideout, I think no one will stop you. Me, Nefarius and Seneca will meet up with you later. Got it?"

"Do I look like an idiot?" she retorted cheekily.  
"No, you look like you."  
"Hey what do you mean with that?"  
"Think about it." Scratch laughed and walked to the door of the little room. "I´ll go out for a little walk. If I´m not back before dusk. Do it without me."

Approximately at the same time in the T.U.F.F. headquarter Dudley sat on his conquered table with his feet laid on it and smoked with enjoyment his tenth cigarette. A bit bored he tried to create rings with the steam he blew out. In that moment Keswick walked by.

"Uhm… Dudley. You´re not allowed to s..s..smoke in here."  
"Yeah? Like I´d give a f*ck." He threw the cigarette to the ground where the others lay.  
"Why did I somehow know that y..y..you would do that? Anyway, you need to fill out the personal data formula. The old d..d..data we have about you got lost. So…" Keswick handed him a piece of paper. "would you be so kindly?"

"Oh great bureaucratic…" Dudley grabbed a pencil from the table and filled the formula fast out. Then he crumpled it into a ball and threw it at Keswick´s head. Suppressing his anger Keswick picked the sheet up and left Dudley without another word.

"Stay c..c..calm Keswick, stay calm." He whispered to himself while he walked to the lab. "I hope my t..t..theory is right about him." As Keswick reached his lab he immediately began to compare the new data with the old he had about him.

He lied to him about that and if Dudley really knew Keswick he would know that he never deletes anything. Hasty he searched his files for Dudley´s old data-file. "That c..c..could take a while."

Meanwhile Kitty was sitting on her table and watched disgusted how Dudley smoking the twelfth cigarette. A voice in her asked why he still had no lung cancer. What was a really god question if you note that he smoked at least three or four packages every day. And another Kitty has realized.

Dudley stunk… of alcohol. He became more and more suspect to her. It was like everything she know about him was null and void. He was drinking, smoking and when her eyes were still alright she saw that Dudley always used matches from a matchbox on which was printed in pink letters 'Lusty Lady'.

"What happened to you." thought Kitty shaking her head. The ringing of the phone on her table finally got her out of her dark thoughts.  
"Agent Katswell." She answered the phone.  
"Kitty?! Thank god I finally got you on the phone."  
"Rick?"

"Yes! Please come to the hospital, I need to tell you something." Stammered Rick and then hung up.  
Kitty rushed through the office towards the garage without hesitating. Rick was in danger and she would do anything to protect her partner. Dudley followed her, he must have intuited something.

They both got into the car and Kitty hit the gas. They reached the hospital in a record time and ran into the room of Rick.  
"Rick! Are you alright?" shouted Kitty as they forced the door open and stumbled into the room. Rick just watched the two agents flabbergasted how they destroyed the door of his room.  
"Yeah, I am. Thanks that you came here so fast."

"Good, after your call I thought something happened to you."  
"There was something." Admitted Rick.  
"And what?" called in Dudley.

"Sorry this is just for Kitty."  
Dudley was about to scream at Rick but Kitty ordered him with a simple move of her hand to leave the room. The real surprise was that Dudley did that.

"So Rick, what do you want to tell me?"  
"Yesterday I was visited by this guy, Scratch."  
"What?!" asked Kitty shocked.

Rick just nodded and added. "He wants me to tell you a message."  
"Spit it out!"  
He cleared his throat and repeated the words he received from Scratch. "_This is your last chance to quit this game of giants. Blood will be spilled and if you refuse this time again I can´t guarantee that it isn´t yours_… that´s all."

Kitty frowned and turned around from Rick´s bed. What did that mean? This whole thing didn´t make any sense to her. Why did that guy warn her? Who was he and more important what was he up to?  
Again a ringing phone ripped her out of her thoughts.

"Look out of the window." It droned from the other side of the line. It was Scratch, she was able to recognized his voice. Kitty followed his order and walked to the window. Down there she just saw the T.U.F.F. car standing. But that should change.

A deafening explosion ripped the car into thousand pieces. It was so intensive that it shook the whole building and broke the window Kitty just stared through. Also she was thrown back by the explosion. Screaming in pains she covered her ears with her hands, a loud whisteling was everything she heard now.

Luckily Dudley came into the room and was now next to her to help her back up. He screamed something at her but she couldn´t hear it.  
"I can´t hear you!" she shouted back. "I´m deaf."  
"You´re not!" a quiet whisper came through the whistling. Dudley must scream very loudly that he could drown the whistling.

"Let´s get back to the HQ. Fast!" yelled Dudley and dragged Kitty behind him.

**-Scratch means it serious, that´s for sure. Kitty just realized it.-**


	8. It went wrong

"Ladies and Gentleman." Shouted Scratch and fired some shots into the ceiling. "All of you have the honor to participate in this bank robbery. So would you be so kindly to make your way to this corner over there." He moved his gun over the people behind the counter and stopped in an empty corner.

The bank employees and the customers stood there paralyzed in fear. Actually Scratch had expected that because that was a usual reaction but it was always annoying for him. The hostages were in a state now in which he had to say everything twice before they would react.

"Okay again, please make your way to that corner." To emphasize his words he shot once again into the ceiling. Now the people finally moved, intimidated they walked slowly into the corner of the room.

"Hey you! Freeze!" Two guards which must have been in disguise among the customers drew their guns. Scratch put his hands up grinning and turned to the guards. So he could watch how Nefarius sneaked to these two and knocked them down by using a Taser. As if they hadn´t included the guards into their plans. They were professionals! And Scratch had planned this for five months. The warning he gave them was just to check how the guards would react.

"Res, non verba." Commented Scratch Nefarius attack.  
"I´ve never been a man of many words. Anyway, let´s loot this place."  
"Okay, I´ll take care of the hostages, you´ll go to the safe and get the money out of it… Oh and don´t forget to detach the color-bombs from the money. You know what happened in Cape Town."

"How could I forget that disaster!" meant Nefarius running towards the safe. Wistfully he remembered what happened in Cape Town, where they also robbed a bank. Everything went perfectly. Like always, Scratch kept the hostages in check and he collected the money while Seneca waited for them in the getaway car.

They had stolen 2 Million Dollar there but Nefarius forget the color-bombs which exploded in the bag after they were in the car. These nasty little things release a special kind of color which makes all money it comes in contact with worthless. So 2 Million Dollar shrunk to 300 Dollar. It was unbelievable embarrassing for these so called professionals.

But at least Nefarius had learnt something from that, even if he wished that this lesson could have been a bit cheaper. Also Scratch wished that who was pacing up and down in front of the hostages right now. Skeptically he eyed the bunch of people that cowered there.

"Oh great, three old Ladies… a pregnant woman… five children… and a few young girls. The newspapers will love me." He thought.  
"Excuse me…" A shivering voice came from the crowd. It was a younger dog girl with light yellow fur, black hair and blue eyes. She looked kind of cute in her purple dress, Scratch had to admit. But that wasn´t the time to think about the cuteness of bank employees.

"Yes Miss…"  
"My name is Becky and…" she introduced herself.  
"Ah okay, Becky." Began Scratch in his polite manner and pressed his gun on her forehead. "I think I haven´t allowed you to talk." It was odd but this Becky girl didn´t freak out like the people usually did when you press a gun on their head. Well, at least not completely. Maybe that wasn´t her first bank robbery.

"Please Sir. We have kids and a pregnant woman here. The stress isn´t good for her. Please let her go."  
"How selfless… almost heroic." Laughed Scratch. "Okay, all of you. Go."  
The crowed looked flabbergasted at him. And again he had to repeat his words to make them move.

"All of you, GO!" Slowly they stood up and walked towards the door. Every step they took was full of fear. They waited for the moment that this guy would stop them or start shooting at them.  
"Wait!" the crowd winced as they heard Scratch´s voice.

"Not you… Becky." He walked to her and pressed his hand softly on her shoulder. It amused him how he could almost feel her fear. Smiling he waved his hand at the crowed that now left the building.  
"I think you ask yourself why I let them all go?"  
Becky nodded slowly.

"Well, one hostage is more than enough."  
"But why me?" she asked with tears in her eyes. It wasn´t maybe her first robbery but she was never in such a stressful situation.  
"Because you played the heroin. I know that´s unfair but the world is unfair. So get with it." Explained Scratch laughing.

"Hey Scratch, I´m finished with the first safe. 1.5 Million. Let´s hope the second one will be equally filled." Called Nefarius from behind and began to wonder. "Where are the hostages?"  
"Make an educated guess."

"You freed them…" Nefarius sighed. "You know that they´ll call the police."  
"Oh come on." Said Scratch rolling his eyes. "Becky here has definitely activated some kind of silent alarm or something. The police will be here in a few seconds. Also don´t forget that we warned the T.U.F.F. agents. If they are not totally dim they also warned the police. So stay calm. Everything works perfect."

Nefarius shrugged, eyed Becky briefly and got back to his work.  
"Oh my god…" called Becky suddenly out. "You want to kill me."  
"What?!" Surprised turned Scratch his head to her.

"You want to kill me." She repeated hyperventilating. "Because I pushed the alarm button."  
"No…" but that Becky didn't let him finish sentence, she just burst into tears.  
"Oh great." Sighed Scratch, he couldn´t stand crying women. That was maybe his only weak point.

A bit awkwardly he patted her head. "Hush. Hush. You won´t die today. I promise, nothing will happen to you. We just grab the money and go then… We maybe have to take you as hostage for a quicker escape but we will release you then. So relax."

"Really?" she sobbed wiping some tears out of her face.  
"Yes, don´t worry."

A few minutes before that happened Dudley and Kitty sat in the daily briefing as they received a report about a bank robbery in the Petropolis National Bank. Kitty had no doubt that this was the robbery which Scratch had announced.

She jumped out of the audience that listened to the chief, looked at the giant monitor behind him that blinked furiously, and wanted to rush to the garage. But the chief stopped her. "Stop, stop, stop. Are you really sure you can handle that? I mean do you feel okay again after what happened at the hospital?"

"My ears maybe hurt a bit but this is more important. We could capture Scratch!" she said excited. It was true, her ears still hurt pretty much but with a few painkillers it was bearable.  
"I know but do you really feel okay?" the chief asked sternly.

"Yes." She emphasized emphatically. "And I have Dudley with me. He maybe became an asshole but he is still a good agent. Don´t worry."  
"I can hear you." screamed Dudley who still sat in the audience.

"Well then go. And you Agent Puppy, follow her." He shouted towards him. With an incomprehensible calmness he followed Kitty to the garage, jumped to her in the T.U.F.F. mobile and whistled a song while Kitty began to drive like a maniac. Signs, traffic lights, roadblocks… nothing stopped her.

With screeching tires she stopped the car in front of the bank which was surrounded by a battalion of police officers that pointed with their guns at the building. The whole police operation went fast but that wasn´t surprising. After their meeting with Scratch Kitty has warned the police. So they were prepared.  
A police officer ran to the car before they could get out.  
"T.U.F.F. agents?" the officer asked.

"Yes. What´s going on here?" replied Kitty.  
"Two hostage taker. One hostage. A bank employee."  
"Good." Kitty got out of the car. "We´ll go in there as negotiators."  
The policeman nodded and guided the through the barricades.

A last time Kitty took a deep breath before she would go through the door into the building. Hostage dramas are always very complicated and difficult situations. Nobody knew how the hostage takers would react and if she was right and Scratch was the taker the whole situation could even become ugly. Very ugly.

What she didn´t understand was why Scratch had released all hostages except one. If he was really the culprit of the massacre seven years ago he would take any chance to murder more people, would he?

"Okay. Let´s go in there. Slowly." She whispered to Dudley and they both entered the building. But instead like Kitty with her arms up showing that she was unarmed Dudley rushed into the building with a drawn gun. "Hands up Scratch it´s over." He yelled at him.

"Really?" Scratch pulled Becky closer and used her like a shield. "I think it just begun."  
"Everybody calm down." Interjected Kitty. "Everything is alright. Let us not overreact."  
"Hey Scratch! Have you watched T.V. lately?" meant Dudley without even listening to Kitty´s words. "They say it´s going to snow soon. You will be able to watch the snow falling from the window of the condemned cell."

"Maybe, but not until I shed your blood into this snow. Letting it turn its color from white to red. I´m looking forward to the day your casket will let into the ground." Giggled Scratch and pressed the barrel of his gun an bit harder on Becky´s head.  
"You know that this won´t happen."

"Oh believe me, my dear enemy, strangest things in life can happen anywhere."  
"Hey Scratch I…" Nefarius just entered the room with two bags full of money and looked a bit confused as he saw the two T.U.F.F. agents. "…oh sorry, am I interrupting you three?"

"No. I think we´re done here. Say Seneca he should get the vehicle."  
Nefarius nodded and grabbed his radio.  
Dudley saw a chance in that moment, he stepped closer to Kitty.

"Hey Katswell. Scratch is distracted, I could shoot him."  
"What, no!" hissed Kitty back.  
"Why? I could shoot him and it´s over. He´s got nothing against us."  
"He got an unarmed woman against us."

"Colateral damage." Mumbled Dudley and raised his arm to shoot. Kitty, seeing that, pulled his arm down. But the trigger was pulled and the bullet was sent. For Kitty the time seemed to flow slower now. She could almost see how the bullet flew thanks to her interjection to its aim. But that aim was the false one.

Not Scratch but his shield named Becky. Kitty watched him holding her in his arms as she collapsed. The entry wound wasn´t visible but the blood. The torrent of red fluid that poured silent on the ground leaving there just a puddle.

"NOW!" shouted Scratch and the whole building began to tremble as a giant blue police tank broke through the wall next to him which filled the room with debris and dust. Dudley began to shot without having a concrete aim into the dustcloud. He thought that he could maybe hit one of them by coincidence.

But after they heard tires screeching and the dust began to settle there was nothing less left then the red puddle. Kitty just stared at Dudley who seemed to be more annoyed about the fact that Scratch could escape.

"Dammit, again. Come on Katswell, why did you do that? We almost got him!"  
Kitty just stared at Dudley in disbelieve. "What?! Do you have any idea what we just did?"  
"Yeah… We caused some collateral damage. So what? Shit happens."

"Shit happens?! I don´t recognize you anymore Dudley. You´re sick! JUST SICK!" Kitty ran out of the building. In this moment she just wanted to be as far as possible away from her ex-partner. And she wasn´t the only one. Also the robber team in their stolen tank was on their way away from the T.U.F.F. agent.

Becky was lying on the metal floor of the vehicle which she was flooding with her blood. Desperately tried Scratch to press a piece of cloth on the big hole in her stomach. Puppy´s shot did the worst job.  
He wasn´t a doctor but he has seen and caused such wounds often enough to know what would happen next.

"Breathe easy and stay calm Becky. You´re going to make it." He ordered her to at least calm her down. Her breath went staccato and unregularly.  
"Really?" she asked blood spitting.

"Yeah, don´t worry."  
"Mr. Scratch… I know… that you lie. Please…tell me… the truth."  
Gently he stroked through her hair and whispered the next words almost loving. "You going to die."

Even if she knew that this would be an answer of him he was surprised by this plain truth coming from him. And the truth left fear in her. "But… I… don´t want… to… die."  
"I know. Nobody wants."

"But you…" her arm reached out to the collar of Scratches jacket and clang using the last of her strength on it. "… promised"  
Scratch took her hand, kissed it and laid it on the cloth that was lying on her wound.

"I´m sorry." these words didn´t reach Becky anymore. Her features were already ossified. "I´m sorry." he repeated.  
Nefarius who watched Becky´s futile struggle for survival knelt down next to Scratch. "How do you feel?"

"Are you f*cking kidding me? What do you think how I feel?" replied Scratch aggressive for him this question sounded like a bad joke.  
"Do you mind if I administer the last…" asked the priest ignoring the emotional outburst of his friend.

"Do what you think you have to do." Scratch stood up and strode through the blood to the driver´s cabin. "Seneca, drive to the rendezvouses point with Parva. Maybe she got some good news." He sighed. "Media in vita in morte sumus."

**-Scratch plan didn´t work as well as he thought. It´s a bit sad that this had happen to Becky but why did Dudley just shot? What´s wrong with him… Well, I think we´ll find out sooner or later.-  
-"Media in vita in morte sumus" = In the midst of life we are in death-**


	9. Formating C

A leather couch. Since six years it has been always this couch. One of these flat couches which were just good for lying. One of these couches you could call a therapist couches. And Kitty lay on one. Not without a reason of course. Her hands began to shiver again, so hard that she wasn´t even able to drink a glass of water anymore without spilling it.

She had no appointment for that day, her next standard appointment would be in two weeks but because of her hands she decided to consult doctor Prince. The tall old swan sat in his armchair which matched perfectly to the couch. Couch and armchair were together the typical therapist furniture.

Also perfectly fitting into the scenery was Prince´s staid grey suit which gave him something father-like. He seemed like a man that you can talk with, what was of course good characteristic when you´re a therapist.

Attentively he rocked back and forth in his armchair and listened to every word that came from Kitty.  
"So it started again."  
"Yes." Sighed Kitty. "I hoped that I could get over it but after that thing yesterday… Doctor, why am I after six years of therapy still not strong enough to control my emotions?"

"Well, Miss Katswell, emotions are nothing that we could control. We can just learn how to handle them right."  
"But why can other people that without therapy?"

"Miss Katswell, I attended much massacre victims over the last years and I have to say that you are doing well compared to the most of them. I mean you´re not suicidal anymore, you have no panic attacks anymore. And if you also mind that you´re in a job that deals with huge amounts of emotional stress you can really be proud of yourself." Meant Prince trying to persuade Kitty from his point.

"But I feel so powerless about that all and also about these whole situation." Complained Kitty.  
"You always want to control everything, Miss Katswell. But you have to understand that there are things in life that we just can´t control. Sometimes all we can do is just make one decision and then look where it takes us." Prince read through his notes and stopped at a certain point. "You told me about a dream at the beginning of today´s appointment. What kind of dream?"

Kitty closed her eyes. She had replayed the dream in front of her inner eye again and again since she woke up this morning. Usually the most people forget 90 percent of what they dreamt a few minutes after they woke up but this dream was so intensive that she could recall every little detail. It didn´t feel like a dream, more like a memory. Something that really happened.

The dream started with her and Dudley. They were teenagers and were making out on someone´s car hood in front of the Petropolis high school. No one else was there. It seemed that even no one was in the city. Kitty couldn´t understand the logic behind the fact that they were teens again and that the city was empty but she didn´t question it.

Dreams sometimes have no logic. Anyway Dudley and Kitty had a good time together and she felt in that moment this old feeling. She felt how she felt before the massacre happened. Happy, just happy. But like it was in the reality the happiness was broken by gunshots which echoed through the stillness. Kitty was suddenly paralyzed with fear, she was just unable to move as she heard the shots.

Again it was Dudley who saved her. He dragged her into the building and sprinted with her down the hallways. Determined he ran around the corners always followed by the gunshots to a single locker that stood there lonely in the middle of the wall. Fast he got her into that locker and kissed her on the forehead.

"Stay in there no matter what happens." Dudley slammed the door of the locker shut and strode hesitant, almost fearful, to the point where the hallways crossed. Then something strange happened. The gunshots came closer but Dudley didn´t even thought about running away on a contrary, he knelt down with his eyes fixed on the ground and waited.

He waited for an older version of him that stepped closer to him. His aged alter ego held the gun on his head. With a smile and the words _'Seven years my friend.'_ the older Dudley shot the younger Dudley and then looked around. His eyes scanned the area until he finally saw the locker. Slowly he moved towards it. Kitty´s heart began to beat faster and she had just one thought. "RUN!" but her feet resisted like two stubborn mules.

She was still paralyzed from the fear and even if she could snap out of it and made it out of the locker she would just run directly into the arms of old Dudley who was already opening the locker door. Grinning he sat the barrel of the rifle on the spot where the bullet of the massacre she once hit.

Dudley was about to pull the trigger as the silver shining blade of a knife cut his throat apart. His grin drowned in all the blood and he sank desperately holding his throat to the ground. The man who stood behind him with the knife was well-known to Kitty.

It was Scratch. For a short moment he looked satisfied on what he has achieved but then he wiped away the blood from his knife. Contentedly he looked at her and said "Wake up Miss Katswell. It´s time". On that point she woke up.

Pensively leaned doctor Prince back in his armchair. "Interesting…"  
"I would say strange… but I can´t make sense of that."  
"This Dudley is I think the protagonist in your dream. We should talk about your relationship. You said that he returned."

"Yes…" sighed Kitty. "But he isn´t the same anymore."  
"He changed?"  
"Completely. Dudley changed completely. The only reason why I still tolerate him is because of that what we shared. But the memory of this time seems to get weaker every day. And now he´s back after seven years and is completely different. He isn´t the Dudley I loved once. Damn, he isn´t even a Dudley that I could love now!"

"Well, that´s sad of course. But maybe he also had a bad time. As you told me he was also a victim of the massacre. Also the one who saved you. Have you already talked with him about that all?"  
"Not yet… he either wasn´t there or we were occupied with our missions."  
"I would really recommend that you talk to your former partner." meant Prince. "Now about this other man… Scratch. Tell me about him."

"Hm… there isn´t much I could tell about him… Mainly because I know almost nothing about him and what we know are just a few stories from the street like 'He once strangled a man with his own arm' or 'He killed a kid just for fun' or 'He´s controlling the cocaine trafficking on the west coast.' Nothing certain. But what I know certainly is that he is a criminal and he knows what he does. A real professional. His body is covered with scars and I suppose he is younger than we assume."

"Wait, from where do you know that with his scars?" Prince bend interested forward.  
"I was in a whirlpool with him." She told him and he leaned confused back and noted something down on his notebook.  
"That was just because of business. Nothing more."  
"Really? Okay, whatever you say. Anyway, what do you feel about him."

That was an interesting question. Even if one part of her, the reasonable and dutiful part, told her that this guy was dangerous and she should fight him there was another part in her that thought that he maybe wasn't the bad guy. And this part was slowly growing. But she wouldn´t tell doctor Prince about that.

Even if that was a bad idea not to tell your therapist such things she was afraid what he would think of her. She just wanted to lie and hoped that he would buy it. "He´s my enemy. I feel nothing certain about him."

Doctor Prince scratched his head pensively and took a look at the big long case clock which started ring. "Our time is already over. But I have a little homework for you. Take the rest of the day off to relax and tomorrow you talk to your partner. Got it?"

"Do I really have to?" The thought about talking to Dudley let Kitty´s answer sound like it came from a whining kid.  
"Yes, you have to." Meant Prince father-like. He stood up together with Kitty and shook her hand. Finally she could leave. Always when the doctor begins to speak with his father voice Kitty wants to be as far away from him as possible.

The father voice meant homework, and homework meant doing something emotionally exhausting, and that was something what she could really not need at this moment. Even if the first part of the homework didn´t sound bad. A bit relaxing music maybe a bit wine. Kitty smiled. Her plans sounded similar to the stuff she wanted to do with Eric as they were still together. A thought budded up in her that also this evening would end abruptly.

On the other side of the city, a few hours later in the T.U.F.F. lab, Keswick stirred sugar in his coffee. The nightshift was hard to take but he was somehow able to stand it. Mostly because of his coffee how became his best friend during these long nights. A friend consisting of caffeine and sugar.

More sugar than coffee to be honest. For any specter it not looked like that he was adding sugar to his coffee but more like he was adding coffee to his sugar. Also this night he scrambled his coffee to a jelly like mass. Spooning this mass he walked back to his lab while getting more awake on every step.

He knew that this stuff would slowly kill him but the chief would do that as well when he caught him sleeping at work. The only one who ever got away with that was agent Puppy. The story with the tape recorder on which he was playing the sound from him being busy got a little legend in the office. He even noted the chief´s office patrols so he could perfectly time his sleep.

Even Keswick had to admit that this was pretty brilliant of him. Unfortunately the chief caught him after a few weeks because he did a surprise patrol. Bad luck.  
Keswick´s mug was almost empty now. Intensely he tried to get the last bits on his spoon. Again he thought about Dudley.

A slight smile flashed over his lips. He knew it finally. After an intensive search and a pile of files that was bigger than him which he read through he finally knew it. Puppy´s little secret. Or big secret. Anyway, it would change anything when he would tell it to the others tomorrow. He was looking forward to that moment. When he would hold his big speech in which he would reveal it. That would be a wonderful triumph for him.

But what was more exciting in that moment was the clues he found while checking Dudley´s background. Clues that could lead him directly to Scratch. And not just to some vague information about Scratch. No, Keswick was sure that he could uncover the real identity of him. That was the reason why he was in the lab now.

Usually he hadn´t had the nightshift on that day but for getting Scratch he did an extra shift.  
"Well well w..w..well, let´s see." Keswick sat down on his chair and continued hacking into security servers which were too good secured. A streaming service in the Ukraine which was better secured than some of the best T.U.F.F. servers? That seemed just wrong and very suspicious.

That was the third server he found on his way to Scratch that was secured like that. He believed that after a few more he would be at his goal. Every server revealed a few information about Scratch. Keswick for example now had the full intelligence report of an incident in Sierra Leone.

"A d..d..disgusting way to treat captivities." Thought Keswick after reading a report of a witness, a rebel that survived. But what Scratch did to his tormentors wasn´t better. He even read that among the corpses he left there were bodies of kid soldiers.

Keswick shivered as he thought about that. But the best thing not to get dragged into depressive was not to think about that. So he leaned back in his seat and relaxed for a moment. He had almost fell asleep if the cold barrel of a gun weren´t pressed into his neck.

"No, please don´t fall asleep. You won´t become the employee of the month if you do."  
Keswick swallowed and turned around. "Hello Mr. S..S..Scratch."  
"Hello Keswick." Replied the dog friendly. "You shouldn´t be in that part of the internet. That´s the bad part." With a smile the dog pointed his gun at a corner and ordered Keswick through that to go there.

"What d..d..do you want here?" called Keswick while walking into the corner.  
"You dug to deep."  
"So you´re here to k..k..kill me?"  
"Oh no!" laughed Scratch and threw a pair of handcuffs to Keswick. "I won´t murder a T.U.F.F. agent. That´s too complicated to let everything vanish. I mean if you kill a stressed realtor for example you just have to get rid of the body and then you construct some kind of story which explains his absents. For example that he was too stressed and he run away to break free. Easy. But if an agent dies there´ll be a lot of other agents to ask questions."

"Understood." Meant Keswick as he attached himself with the handcuffs at a radiator near to him.  
"But there´s always place for a symbolic murder." Laughed Scratch loud and pulled the trigger of his gun. Keswick waited for the bang and then that his life would end. He waited for whatever came next. Or for nothing if it was that what afterlife was like.

But nothing happened. Keswick opened his eyes which he had closed reflexive as he saw Scratch´s fingers moving.  
"Unloaded gun." Giggled Scratch mischievous. "Stay attentive." He walked to Keswick´s computer and began to type something on the keyboard. As he finished all monitors showed a progressing bar which was saying 'Formating C'.

Keswick almost jumped at him angry. "HOW DARE YOU DELETING MY HARD DISKS?!" That was one thing with that you could really make Keswick furious. These machines were his babies. No one was allowed to touch them and besides it would take him hours to re-built his whole system.

Scratch who seemed amused by Keswick´s anger blowup walked laughing out of the room. The last words Keswick heard from him while he tried to get loose from the radiator was. "Maybe one day you get access to these servers. If you ask friendly."

**-Also Keswick had his meeting with Scratch now. And he is really angry now. What is this secret Keswick was talking about? And what did this strange dream of Kitty mean? You´ll see soon ;D-**


	10. The new face

It rained again. A giant front carrying rain hit the city and should transform in the next days to an intensive snow shower. That was strange because even in the colder months Petropolis was loved by the suns warm rays. That was a reason why Herbert Dumbrowski has transferred here 25 years ago. He liked the warm climate. Much better than this cold that was slowly crawling into his bones right now.

A terrible feeling. But luckily the chief had a cup of coffee in his hand which helped against the cold. He drank it black without sugar or milk. It came in handy that the coffee mug in his hand had a plastic cap so the rain couldn´t fall into the coffee. The chief really forgot his umbrella. Okay, to his defense it has to be said that the rain made a little break as he began his walk to work and that the chief thought that the long craved weather change would begin.

But now he walked in a soaked brown trenchcoat through the pouring rain.  
Preoccupied with his coffee he almost hadn´t noticed the foot that came towards him from above.  
"Oh my god watch out!" were the only things he could shout. It was pure luck that his almost killer had not only good ears but also fast reflexes.

The shoe was pulled up and the chief looked into a dog´s face. He somehow looked familiar but the chief couldn´t remember from where he knew him. Also the sunglasses he wore made it hard to recognize him.

"Oh sorry" meant the dog smiling. "I haven´t seen you."  
The chief has heard this sentence so often that he could just answer it with a tired smile. "It´s okay. Nothing happened."  
"Oh good. Maybe I can invite you to a cup of coffee just to excuse myself?"

The chief pointed his index finger on the little mug in his hand. "I think I´ve got enough. But would you do me a favor?"  
"Sure."  
"Watch your step."  
"I´ll do." Laughed the dog and continued walking.

"Nice guy." Thought the chief as he entered the T.U.F.F. building. "It´s a shame that you meet such people less and less often. These young people are so rude. Someone should teach them manners. Someone…" he held the doorknob of his office door in his hand as a terrible thought came into his mind. "… damn, that´s exactly what my father once said… May he rest well in hell." Not often broke memories of his father in Herbert´s mind.

Seymour Dumbrowski, or how he always called him, the old bastard was a cruel and sadistic person. He tortured him and his sister with pointless punishments the whole day, just for his whole amusement. The chief always asked himself how an accountant could be so ambivalent, or if he could be so ambivalent.

That definitely had to do with some aggressions he brought from work back home, even if it was still confusing where someone with this job could get angry. His mother died after his birth so his Dad was alone with him and his sister. She moved out as soon as she was eighteen and left little Herbert and the old bastard alone.

Something he still couldn´t forgive his sister. The five years after she left were terrible for him. Sometimes he wondered how his life had changed if she had taken him with her. He probably never launched his career at T.U.F.F., he probably never made such big mistakes.

After years of working with other agents and knowing their background stories he realized that a broken family was somehow an employment criterion. He had his father, Dudley also had something with his father and now of course with his mother now, Keswick´s parents never accepted what he did and Kitty… well, he didn´t know what Kitty brought her here.

Lost in these thoughts the chief read through a stack of files that an agent must have laid on his table as he was already at home. Definitely Rick, the young boy was more a pencil pusher than a real field agent but he tried. And it amused the chief how he tried. It was cute to watch him. He was so helpless sometimes.

A file struck his eye, the bank robbery. Maybe some new information about Scratch? The chief opened the cover of the file. In it lay just one photo. The corpse of a young girl, she was lying on a field somewhere near the city. Her arms were folded on her chest and someone laid two coins on her eyes. "To pay the ferryman." Mumbled the chief.

He saw this kind of work before. It was five years ago and he was called to Greek to reinforce the local T.U.F.F. agents there. A mysterious killer killed a few people. The agents believed it was a serial killer because of the missing connection between the victims.

Could it be that one of Scratch´s team or maybe himself is this killer? But that behavior would be odd for a killer because if Kitty´s report was true it was Dudley who shot this girl. Not one of these guys. The chief leaned back in his chair and took a sip on his coffee. So many questions but no answers.

His eyes wandered to the drawer of his desk. Beside his badge, a few bullets and an old coupon book there was this announcement. A letter for all T.U.F.F. agents that would inform them that he will retire. It was still not official but already completed. Only the line for his signature was still empty.

During the last weeks he thought a lot about quitting at T.U.F.F.. It was time for him to go, he was too old for this job and he didn´t want to continue. Someone new had to come and he knew who this person would be. Well, it would be a shame if Kitty didn´t get honored for being the best T.U.F.F. more than 12 times. She deserved it and the chief deserved to life the rest of his life in peace without getting annoyed by villains.

He would go fishing on this little lake near his house. Just sitting in a boat and enjoying the silence all around him. Being alone with his thoughts and maybe finally coming to terms with himself. But he hesitated to sign this paper. This job was everything he had. T.U.F.F. was curse and blessing for him at once.

He had some kind of weird family he really cared about but over the last 40 years this was also the only family he got. He never had the time to find a girl found a family and stuff like that. Also he had the suspicion that the same fate would happen to Kitty if he would pass the chief´s badge to her. He was afraid that she would end up here on this chair old and bitter like he was.

"Uhm… chief?" her voice suddenly startled him.  
"Agent Katswell? Why haven´t you knocked."  
"I did." She said defensive. "But you haven´t answered."

"Oh… Sorry." He must have been so deep in his thoughts that he overheard her knocking on the door. "What can I do for you Kitty?"  
A bit surprised that the chief called her by her first name she waved a piece of paper. "A strange note from Keswick lay on my table. _Come to the lab immediately_ it says."

The chief rummaged through the pile of files in front of him and found the same note.  
"That sounds serious. We better go." The chief hopped onto Kitty´s head and they both went towards the lab. They met Dudley on their way who had the same note in his hand and an confused look on his face.

The three together stepped into the lab and became more perplex as they saw Keswick handcuffed to the radiator. Kitty and the chief rushed of course to him and tried to unchain him while Dudley just laughed. "Ha! Looks like some sex practice went wrong."

"Ah s..s..shut up asshole." Meant Keswick as Kitty and the chief detached him from the radiator.  
"Pardon?" said Dudley and built himself up in front of the small Keswick.  
"Oh, haven´t you h..h..heard me agent Puppy? I´ll r..r..repeat it for you. ASSHOLE!"

Dudley grabbed Keswick angrily by the collar and lifted him up. "How about a little beat up nerd? RIGHT HERE!"  
Keswick stayed unimpressed by those threads replied just by whispering. "Oh, are you angry Mr. Bill Young?"

Like seeing a ghost Dudley let Keswick go and backed away two steps. "I..I.. don´t know what you mean."  
"Really, Bill Young?" Keswick asked but this time so loud that the chief and Kitty could hear it.  
"Bill Young?" They asked in unison.

"Yes. This man isn´t a..a..agent Puppy."  
"Keswick, what are you talking about? This is Dudley." Said Kitty in disbelieve.  
"No. That isn´t a..a..agent Puppy and I can prove it. I did a bit research and I was able to follow the trace of the real Dudley from P..P..Petropolis over Spain to Russia. I f..f..found a few credit card billings of him. He paid there for a hotel, a bagel and two coffee. I checked a few old camera r..r..recordings from that time, or what was left. I mean that´s seven years ago! It´s amazing that there are still recordings left."

"Come to the point." interrupted the chief.  
"Okay okay. Anyway, there was a street camera r..r..recording from Dudley sitting with a guy in a café. I followed the two for a while u..u..using as many recordings as I could find. I lost them for a while but two weeks after this little meeting in the coffee I saw this man walking into a hospital, alone. Two days l..l..later Dudley walked out of it alone. To say that right away I checked all the entrances of the hospital. Dudley never entered it and the other man never left it. I began to wonder what h..h..happened there so I called the hospital that they should transmit all the files of this time to me. In this little period of time seven appendectomies, one heart t..t..transplantation and one plastic surgery took place." Keswick walked to a stack of files and showed them a photo which lay on top of it.

The photo showed the face of a dog on the left side with the word before under it. On the right sight was a picture of a swollen face that looked very similar to Dudley´s face. Under Dudley´s face the word after was written. For a second Kitty watched the photo confused until she understood.

"The surgery! Keswick do you mean that…"  
"Exactly." Keswick turned to Dudley and pointed with his index finger at him. "This m..m..man isn´t agent Dudley Puppy. His name is Bill Young!"

Young suddenly began to laugh so hard that it was creepy and started to speak with a different voice. "That was really impressive Keswick, really. But how did you get my real name? And how did you even got the idea?"  
"Just some more s..s..searching nothing more… And the idea that you´re not who you are came as I realized that the chameleon was gone for a while now. So I let you fill this papers, do you remember?"

"Oh, yes… I made a mistake right?" asked Young interested.  
"Yes, your blood type. You wrote that you have A negative but the real Dudley had AB positive and…"  
"So it´s true?" intervened Kitty finally shocked. "You´re not Dudley?"

"That´s true. My name is Agent Bill Young. NSA."  
"What happened to the real Dudley then?"  
Young´s smile turned into a frown and he sighed. "Agent Puppy died seven years ago in a fire in Moscow."

The message hit Kitty like a hammer but it explained so much. It explained why Dudley was such an asshole all the time, it explained why he not stayed in touch with them and why he never returned in the meantime. But even all these answers and the clarity they brought couldn´t take away the pain that arose in Kitty.

She got sick, she wasn´t able to stay in this room with this fraud anymore. She ran out of lab with no concrete direction. She just wanted to be as far away as possible from this madness. She left the chief and Keswick alone with agent Young in this room.

"But why this mascaraed?" the chief asked the NSA agent skeptically.  
"I was to known in this whole criminal scene. I needed a new face and sadly Dudley didn´t need his old one anymore. And that helped me to get Scratch."

"So you somehow continue Dudley´s mission?"  
"More than that, I´m avenging him." Again Young had this sad expression on his face. "It was Scratch who killed Dudley."  
"What!?" Keswick and the chief asked in unison.

Young nodded approving. "Yes, and I´m sorry for my recent behavior. I just had a slight idea how to play this role. The Dudley I got to know was a bitter and sad person eaten up by anger and hate. It´s a shame that his life ended in this phase of sadness." He turned to the door and walked towards it saying.  
"And how did you manage to imitate his voice so p..p..perfectly?" Keswick wanted to know.  
"No trick behind that. I´m just very skilled in imitating voices. Anyway, if you still have questions, I´m on Mr. Puppy´s former desk."

The chief and Keswick were alone now in the lab and exchanged confused looks. "Do y..y..you trust him?" asked Keswick.  
"Not further than I can throw him but his story sounds somehow plausible."  
"I have the bad s..s..suspicion that I´ll find Dudley death certificate if I search a bit more."  
"I feel that too… By the way, why have you been handcuffed to the radiator?"

"That was Scratch, this bastard caught me sniffing around in some of his stuff. He had left not long ago… You haven´t had the chance to catch him on your way here, have you?" in Keswick´s eyes hope and hate flashed up.

"No…" said the chief and realized something. He knew now where he had seen the dog who almost smashed him almost an hour ago. This smile. He had a conversation with Scratch and he survived.

**-Ha! Have you seen that coming? No seriously, have you? Was it obvious or not? I´d really like to know, tell me in the reviews.-**


	11. For what?

"Where is he?" Parva asked nervous into the room. She sat on the bed of the small motel room and chewed her fingernails. Scratch left the hotel sometime in this night without saying anything and it made her nervous that he just leaves at night.  
"What if he betrays us?" she thought out loud.

"Stay calm girl." Meant Nefarius who averted his gaze from the rosary he was praying with. Between his fingers he rolled a new blue pearl which he attached to it after Becky´s death. "We´re so close to finish this. He wouldn´t leave us now."  
"I´d like to have your trust in him." She meant shaking her head. "But Christmas is in three days and I don´t want to spend this time in a hotel without separated bathroom!"

"Hey, they making pretty good meals in prison!" called Seneca from the radio on which he checked all police frequencies for the improbably case that Scratch got caught.  
"Yeah, of course. Nothing is better than sitting in a cell eating a meal from plastic plates while your cellmate is sitting on the toilet watching you." Parva retorted with sharp sarcasm. Seneca overheard that, he was to occupied with the radio again.

"What´s wrong kid?" asked the reverend who lay his rosary aside and began to fully concentrate on her.  
"Nothing´s wrong. It´s just…"  
"The thing with your father right?" completed Nefarius with his calm priest baritone.

"Yes… Every Christmas we celebrated together. Even if he was on his 'business trips' he managed it to be here. And I tried that too as good as possible after I began with my 'business trips'"  
"Herrgott Mädel, call it raid! Business trip, that´s ridiculous." Seneca interrupted from the radio but immediately got back to checking the frequencies.

Parva rolled her eyes. "Okay, raids. Whatever. Dad and I celebrated every Christmas together. But now…" in moments when all these memories about her father came back to the surface it was hard for her to hold back her tears.

"He´s gone." Finished Nefarius her sentence again.  
"That´s right…" she sobbed.  
"You miss him, right?"  
"Of course I miss him!" her sobbing contained anger, almost hate. "And I will get my revenge on the guy who killed him. This agent Puppy."

"Get in line!" said Scratch who entered in that moment the room. He took of his sunglasses and threw them into a corner of the room. "They know that it´s Young!"  
"What?" asked Nefarius unbelieving while Parva stood up from the bed and wondered what Scratch meant.

"Yes. As I visited their scientist, this Keswick, I was able to take a quick look on some files. This little guy is pretty good in what he does. He found out that Puppy is dead and that Young stole his identity."  
"Wait what?!" Parva´s right eyebrow was raised what meant that she understood nothing.

"Haven´t you read the Nemesis files?"  
"Oh you mean this jumble of files that you call the plan?" joked Parva and was pretty surprised that she received an approving nod from Scratch.  
"No." she then replied.  
"Oh great. But you understood that the bank robbery was just a diversionary maneuver to get you time to break into the top secret part of the Petropolis national archive?"

"Yes." Parva became pretty monosyllabic now. She felt like a stupid school girl which got scolded by the teacher. Scratch´s next words intensified that feeling just more.  
"At least you understood that, go to your room and reread the files!"  
To any other person Parva would just show her middle finger if this person talks with her like that.

What was a reason why her school career ended very early. But Scratch wasn´t any person and she wouldn´t mess with this criminal legend. So she plodded with her head hanging towards the door of the room. However she expressed her rebellious personality nevertheless by slamming the door shut behind her.

Seneca winced surprised by that sound. He was so concentrated on the radio that he neither heard the dialog between Scratch and Parva, which he had of course listened with joy if he had the chance, nor Scratch´s arrival in the room.

"Hm?" he grunted confused.  
"Again for you, they know that it´s Young."  
"Ohh…" he grunted again, stood up from the radio and walked to the others.

"Yes. Ohh… That makes the whole situation just more complicated."  
"Don´t tell me your plan didn´t contain spilling blood of a few poor souls from the beginning." Mocked Nefarius.

"Actually, it did. But I have a plan B of course. But we´ll need someone inside T.U.F.F. to do that. Someone that beliefs Nemesis. Someone that fight with us against them. Any suggestions?" Scratch asked. Even though everyone knew that he already had an idea.

"What about this Rick guy? It seems to be easy to persuade him." Suggested Nefarius pensively.  
"That was my first idea, too. But who would be the first you suspect to be a double agent? The new one, the amateur, the one who isn´t long enough with the crew to be known for his locality." explained Scratch.

"Who else then? The chief or this Keswick guy?"  
"The chief would be a great choice of course but I don´t think that it´s possible to get him on our side... he´s too much on the other side. And Keswick…" Scratch contorted his face like someone who has been up to something. "Well, I think he´s still pissed because I let him chain himself to this radiator."

"Do I want to hear that?" sighed Nefarius.  
"Nope… though… It is kind of funny."  
"Yeah, spare me the details."  
"As you wish." Smirked Scratch.

"Okay then… Not Keswick not the chief…" in his mind Nefarius went the list of possible double agents through until he came to the name Scratch wanted to hear all the time. "Kitty Katswell? Really Scratch? Kitty Katswell, T.U.F.F.´s number one agent?"

"Exactly" Scratch confirmed with his famous smile.  
"Okay, then tell me how do you want to persuade T.U.F.F.´s top agent to change sides? I really really want to hear how!" Nefarius folded his arms skeptically in front of his chest and expected one of Scratch long explanations but all he fobbed him off with was.

"I can be very persuasive, also when she hears it she´ll believe it. Also you know, nil martalibus arduum est." Still with this smile on his lips he turned to Seneca. "I got something to do for you, would you be so kindly to upholster the trunk of your car? We want to make it comfortable for our future guest."

A bit sullen nodded Seneca and walked to the door. As he closed the door he could hear some last words from Scratch to Nefarius who also wanted to go. "Wait, I have to tell you something…"  
Even if Seneca would really like to hear that too, he made his way to the garage where he parked his car. He respected Scratch too much to eavesdrop this conversation besides he knew that curiosity kills the cat. And he was a lion, so not far away from a cat.

A dark staircase led down to the garage of the hotel. Finally Scratch had also an understanding for the needs of him and his car. This permanent parking in the sun is just bad for such and old unique vehicle. Also it was much better to park an escape car somewhere where a cop wouldn´t see it on his daily patrol.

Even if it wasn´t used as an escape vehicle yet. For this bank job he had to steal one of the police´s tanks. Every time when thought about how he hid this tank he had to smile. Maybe one of his best get rid of an escape vehicle maneuvers ever. He just repainted the tank with a military camouflage pattern. Then he increased the size of the water thrower with a big metal pipe so that it looks like the barrel of a real tank.

The last step was that he called a local car dealer and asked if he wanted a tank for advertising purpose. One car dealer, a tank fan, took the vehicle without any further questions and also paid a nice little sum. But the best thing about that all was how Seneca could fool the police. This car dealer´s business was very close to a police station.

Every day hundreds of police officers walked by searching for the tank but couldn´t find it because they searched for the wrong one. When he lost himself in imagining this he could roll on the floor laughing. And he will maybe imagine that later, now he had to upholster the trunk.

"Maybe some pink velvet cushion." He thought eying his dirty trunk. "they could also cover the blood in here… Eckelig" Usually Seneca loved all his cars, he never let them get dirty. When there was a scratch he moved earth and heaven to repair it. But this time there was something else, something in him that prevented him from cleaning away the black dried blood stain.

It was the picture of this girl. What was her name again? Becky? How she lay there motionless with these accusatory staring eyes that seem to look deep into his soul. It was really spooky and it felt releasing as Scratch laid the two coins on her eyes after they got her out of the trunk.

The coins were an old tradition from the time he and Scratch cleaned up the mess behind a serial killer Scratch followed because he murdered a business partner of him. Maybe it was dangerous to leave so much evidence on the crime scene but he and Scratch wanted to demonstrate respect for the dead.

In the end they luckily got the serial killer and Scratch did something terrible to him… that´s at least what Seneca thought. He wasn´t with Scratch as he killed the guy. But he saw the corpse. The guy missed his left arm which was somehow stuffed into his mouth. The guy was chocked on his own limb!

But even the look that guy had in that moment wasn´t so bad like the eyes of this girl. The memory of them would follow him into his nightmares. He already had one of her. He loaded her into the trunk and was about to close it as she turned her head to him and asked "For what?"

For what… that was something that Seneca began to ask himself. Usually after such a faux pas Scratch had abort the mission. He was someone who expected nothing more than absolute perfection. Usually that was something impossible to reach but Scratch was able to make the impossible possible.

And that was not just something what is rumoring around on the streets. After years of working with him he knew that this was the truth. Also he expected that from his team. 100 percent perfection 100 percent success. That was his motto. Seneca also witnessed him throwing over a over weeks meticulously planned coup because he didn´t like a certain detail.

And this dead girl is more than a little detail. That´s a big thing. There must have been something what drove him to go on even if the plan seemed to fall apart.

Seneca had given everything to be at Nefarius place right now who just heard the reason for everything. Shaking his head the reverend stood up from the couch and walked into the bathroom. He remembered that he saw some Aspirin there earlier. After Scratch´s story his head ached.

The story he told him was really really detailed and differed from the telegram style of story telling Scratch usually preferred. It was strange, when Scratch explained something he could tell long stories but when he had to tell a story it sounded like a spoken telegram. But what actually caused this headache was of course what he told him.

With a hand full of Aspirin Nefarius returned from the bathroom and placed himself in front of Scratch who sat a bit nervous on the bed.

"So we are here to…"  
"Yep" completed Scratch immediately.  
"And they are…"  
"Right."  
"And you will…"  
"Leave after this if plan B goes well, definitely." meant Scratch nodding.

"Well, that explains much." Nefarius threw the whole hand of tablets into his mouth and retched them down with croaking sound. "For example why we are still doing this."  
"I´m hope your still in even if you know that." Scratch seemed like a guilty little boy as he asked that.

Nefarius was a bit surprised that he asked him that, he owed him his life for what he done in Sierra Leone. Of course he would be still in. But he could at least let him sweat a bit maybe he could also press some more details out of him if he pretends to be deeply hurt.

"Well, I don´t know… You really expect much from me." Nefarius turned around and tried to hide his amusement as good as possible.  
"Please, you know that I need you." Scratch was almost falling to his knees.  
"You know I just don´t know if I can trust you anymore" Nefarius stressed the words in a way that it sounded like a part of a discussion of an elder couple.

"What can I do to earn your trust again?"  
"You mentioned in your story that Sierra Leone opened your eyes. What do you mean with that?" Nefarius tried to ask that in a way in which Scratch couldn´t realize that he was pulling his leg with his indecisiveness.

"Well, that was a very transforming time of my life. I was permanently down and also on drugs, otherwise these rebels had never caught me."  
"You on drugs?" Nefarius tried to imagine how the always concentrated Scratch would be when he was high.

"A mixture between cocaine and LSD. You better never try that… One trip was so intensive and felt so real that it was indescribable. Do you know the song 'Hotel California'? That what 'The Eagles' were singing about happened to me. But that´s a different story... a pretty good one but a different. And the drugs were just a way to escape the cruel reality around me. I mean, I hunted him until Sierra Leone over three continents and 60 countries and still wasn't able to get even close to him." Scratch reminisced sighing.

"That must be terrible frustrating." Nefarius sat down on the couch on the other side of the bed and listened to his friend more attentively.  
"You nailed it, my friend. I was close to surrender in this latrine as you got literary thrown into my life. First it had something comforting to know that I´m not going to die alone. You gave me solace and that felt good."

"Wait… Your plan was never to get out of there? You wanted to die waist deep in excrements?" Nefarius realized now that he almost died with Scratch in this latrine.  
"In this part of my life I had already given up. But over the weeks when I saw you getting weaker and weaker something changed in me. Something deep in me screamed. _You can´t let him die here! Maybe you deserved that but not he! _That was the first time since years by the way I haven´t acted egoistic. So I asked you for some kind of weapon and you brought me that wire. After we were free I rethought my whole situation. Was it really okay for me now to die in a latrine somewhere in Africa? Didn´t I deserved more? So I began to work my own little legend which already existed and I had great fun doing that but what drove me all the time was still the same. I just changed my attitude to all of this. By the way, I´m still impressed that you´ve been able to get a piece of wire there." Scratch said nodding appreciative.

"You are impressed?! I´m impressed how you were able to take down a camp full of rebels."  
"That wasn´t such a big deal. You just have to be really quiet and prevent that they spot you. Now…" Scratch looked down to the ground.

"Oh man…" sighed Nefarius and turned around again but this time he didn´t stop the muscles in his face from creating an evil smile. "I don´t know."  
"Nefarius please I…" Scratch now saw the grin on his friends face and commented it with "you evil bastard."

"Hehehe" giggled Nefarius. "Got you!"  
"Oh yeah, great work reverend." Meant Scratch rolling his eyes.  
"It was a pleasure my son." Nefarius said with the intonation of a priest. "Anyway, back to the more important things. How do you want to come close to Katswell?"

"We´re doing the _'What are you doing in my apartment'_ " Scratch rubbed his hands in excitement.  
"It´s been a while since we did that the last time… Make sure to take enough Tasers with you."  
"Ha, did you forget who you are speaking with?" laughed Scratch and boxed the shoulder of the reverend.

**-The****_ 'What are you doing in my apartment'_****... that doesn´t sound good. What is Scratch planning? And what does he want to do to Kitty? We´ll see in the next chapter :D-**


	12. Surprise surprise

A cold wind blew over the fully water soaked flat meadow near Petropolis. The rain stopped but the cold wind drove a front of new dark clouds full of whatever they wanted to drop down to the city. Agent Young stepped on the grass and watched the sun that was about to set. The red sunlight from one side and the coming darkness from the other created a beautiful scenery.

"Beautiful isn´t it?" sighed Young as he saw the spectacle that the nature offered to him.  
"What do you mean?" asked Rick who tramped to him while the ground under his feet made a squelching sound.

"The light and the darkness. Can´t you see it boy?"  
Rick still haven´t any idea what agent Young was talking about. He was just glad that this Dudley look-a-like stopped being an asshole towards him. He even apologized for his behavior what was more than what Rick usually got when he was treated like that.

He was used to get pushed around but that somebody is nice to him was a different experience. Of these experiences you could get used to.  
"No, Sir." Meant Rick confused.

"Isn´t that a symbol of the fight in this world? The eternal struggle good against evil. Light against shadow. That´s what the world is about." Young sounded a bit melancholic. Rick now looked at him fully confused. "Sir, can I asked you a question?" asked the recruit gathering all his courage.

"Sure kid."  
"Did you smoke something?" Rick already closed his eyes waiting that Young would scream him down but what he received instead was roaring laughter.

"Ha! You seem to have humor, I like that! But no I´m clean. Just a bit thoughtful, nothing more."  
"Oh okay, I was a bit worried."  
"No need to worry." Young looked at his watch. "They are a bit late… hm… Usually they are never late."

"Yeah, that´s also something I wanted to ask. Why am I here?" There was a good reason to ask that. Agent Young came two hours earlier to him and said he needed his help about some kind of emergency. Rick should have asked that earlier, he maybe should have also asked why he wanted him and not Kitty to help him but Rick wanted to show him that he was a good agent. He wanted to proof himself to him.

"You´ll see kid. And if they are not late you´ll see that in 5… 4…" Young eyed his watched again and counted down the last seconds. "…2…1…" He looked up from the clock and eyed the sky expectant.

"Hm…" he commented the lack of event in front of him. "Well, I think they are really la…" his last word was drowned by the sound of something hitting the ground.  
It sounded like the noise that Rick´s shoes made as he walked over the ground but it was much louder.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Rick who was so surprised that he stumbled and fell into the wet grass.  
"Hm…" meant Young unimpressed. "Nevertheless, they are too late." He walked to the cuboid mud covered thing that just fall out of the clouds. He removed the mud on the upper side of this object with his hand. The thing seemed to be a green box.

Young began to grin, his order arrived finally. He looked over his shoulder and watched how Rick rose from the mud. Cursing he tramped over the grass to him and eyed the object.  
"Uhm… what is that?"

"Just a box my friend, an order from my NSA friends with that we´ll kill off this pest called Scratch." Giggled Young mischievously.  
"Okaaay… and what now?"  
"Easy, get this box out of the mud and load it into the car."

"What?" Rick sounded like he would begin to cry immediately.  
"Come on hurry up." Young clapped his hands in a way in that he wanted to emphasize the word hurry. "If you do it fast I maybe tell you what is in that box."

Young sat without saying any other word on the passenger seat of the car and turned the volume of the radio so high that starting an argue with him was impossible for Rick. Not that he wanted that. But he was pretty pissed in this moment. He thought Young would take him with on a dangerous and exciting mission but everything he had to do was loading cargo.

"Why is it always me who has to carry stuff around? I am a goddamn T.U.F.F. agent! I should be on the hunt for I don´t know Birdbrain or something. But no. I have to load a muddy box into a goddamn car. Story of my life." Inevitably Rick thought about all this times in his life where he was the doormat for anyone around him.

He always thought when he´ll be a T.U.F.F. agent the things would change, he thought the people would respect him, he thought that he would finally get treated like the valuable person he was but… he was wrong. The people still used him as their doormat. Sometimes he asked himself if he maybe made it too easy for the people around him to use him. Maybe he was just too friendly.

"I should really think about changing that… maybe agent Young can help me. He knows how to be an asshole" he panted as he hauled the box that was heavier than it looked like into the trunk of the car. He wiped away some drops of sweat that formed on his forehead with a tissue he always had with him and sat on the driver´s seat.

"You´re done?" asked Young turning the volume down.  
"Yep…" Rick contorted his face. His shoulder began to hurt. "…ow."  
"Oh yeah, your shoulder… I forgot about that." It was strange to see agent Young caring about him also it made him feel a bit awkward so he tried to play the strong man. "No, it´s okay. Don´t worry."  
"Okay then, bring us to T.U.F.F."

"Uhm, Sir… the T.U.F.F. building is closed now. Nobody is there." meant Rick as he started the engine.  
"I know kid. But that´s okay. We´ll need some privacy to build the surprise together."  
"Can you tell me what it is now?" Rick seemed curious and agent Young didn´t want to keep him on tenterhooks any longer so he grinned widely and began with a little story.

"2004 bought the Uzbek intelligence service blueprints from a Chinese dissident who stole them from a Russian ex-KGB agent who had these plans from his French friend which he killed for them. Anyway, after a big eavesdropping operation on the Uzbek intelligence service we were able to get these plans."

"Wait, what? Who stole what from whom? And who developed it?" It was hard for Rick to concentrate on the traffic and Young´s confusing story.  
"Isn´t that obvious who developed it? Afghan scientists who were kept imprisoned by a Swedish criminal. Come on boy, think." Young said that in a way in which everybody had to feel like an idiot who didn´t understand that.

"Anyway, back to the blueprints. We were really puzzled as we first held this blue paper in our hands. What was printed on them looked like a sniper rifle but the magazine had enough ammo to take down a little army without problems. It took us time until we understood that we were dealing with a new type of gun. Imagine a rapid-fire weapon with the precision of one of the best sniper rifles that you can trade for blood diamonds."

"That doesn´t sound bad." Admitted Rick who now understood what was in the box. But he still wondered why it was so heavy.  
"You´re right. This gun will help us to take down Scratch if he dares to show his head somewhere again… Hey, I got an idea!" Young leaned for in his seat and looked excited at Rick. "When we build it together. We could test it on the shooting range. What do you think?"

"We?" Rick thought that Young meant that he would fire while he was standing beside him watching.  
"Yeah of course! You can also be the first!"  
"Say no more!" shouted Rick happily. "I´m in!"

"Great!" meant Young as the car stopped. Rick wanted to get out and drag the box into the elevator but Young stopped him. "No, don´t forget your shoulder. I´ll do it. But you can go to the lab and switch the lights on there. So we can start putting the gun together right away."

"Thanks Sir!" with the happiness of a child on the morning of its birthday Rick rushed up the stairs to Keswick´s lab and entered it so fast that he almost overlooked that the lights were already on. Luckily Rick was able to stop otherwise he had run directly into the chief and Keswick who had a serious conversation there.

"Watch your step boy." Growled the chief angry at him.  
"Oh, I´m sorry. It´s just me and agent Young will need the lab so he sent me to turn all the lights on."  
"What an important m..m..mission" mocked Keswick angry like the chief.

"Oh uhm oh… Should I…"  
"No, we were done here. The lab is all yours." Meant the chief and hopped towards the door. One last time he turned around and nodded into Keswick´s direction. "Please, do me that favor."  
"I would have done that c..c..chief even if you hadn´t asked for that. It was my intention anyway."

The chief left and Keswick turned with his eyebrow raised high towards Rick. "So what do you want in my l..l..lab?"  
"I and agent Young will build a weapon together which he had stolen from Uzbek Afghans which were forced to develop it by a Swedish ex-KBG." He beamed as he told the story.

"Uhm… have fun…" confused handed Keswick Rick the keys to the lab and walked away with the words. "Lock the door when you leave."  
Keswick walked the stairs down to the garage and got into the little whatever what he called car. He built it himself and was really proud of it even if it looked like radiator with wheels.

He indicated left and turned into the Marble street. A lot of things rushed in his mind right now whereas Rick and Young using his lab was the smallest thing. What really bothered him was that Kitty hadn´t responded to any phone call within the last 24 hours. Also the chief was worried and both of them expected the worst.

Keswick´s foot pressed the gas deeper as he began to imagine what could have happened. He didn´t want to find her again with her wrist covered and blood. With those empty eyes that were staring into the nothing. It filled him with fear every time he remembered it but now in a moment this could happen again it was pure panic what he felt.

He hoped that he would be there in time. He hoped that he could safe her. All rationality faded from his thoughts. All these voices that said: _What if she is just not at home? What if her phone was just not working?_ He let the fear control him even if he knew that fear was a really bad advisor.

With squeaking tires he stopped his 'car' in the middle of the sidewalk of Kitty´s apartment and rushed to the door. Even if it was locked Keswick didn´t think about ringing the bell. Without hesitating he pulled out the replacement key Kitty once gave him as she was off for a trip to France with Eric.

The intended use of this key was to give Keswick access to her apartment to water the plants or to order the letters Kitty got every day. Most of the letters were from guys she brought to prison which vowed vengeance, some of them were from her sister and the rest the usual stuff like bills.

Coughing he reached Kitty´s apartment after he hauled himself over 60 stairs up. Again he used the key and gained entrance to the wide apartment Kitty called home. The first thing in his mind was the bathroom. He knew that most suicides liked to cut their wrist while they were lying in warm water.

And even if he knew that Kitty tried it the last time on her couch this was somehow his first aim.  
He burst the door to the bathroom open and found an empty dark room. No whit of the tension in him released. He ran to her bedroom and hoped that he would either find her sleeping there or reading a book.

But he got disappointed, this room was also empty. The nervousness in him increased as he opened the door to the living room. This room was finally one that was lighted and also not empty. Kitty sat there with her legs pulled to her body staring on a grey stain on the white wall.

"Thank god!" exclaimed Keswick as all the fear faded from his body his body in one releasing moment that almost made his legs gave way.  
"Hey Keswick." Sighed Kitty without averting her gaze from the stain. "What´s up" her voice had this apathetic consonance.

"What´s up?! We´ve tried to c..c..call you since yesterday and you just didn´t pick up the damn phone!"  
"I´m sorry" she sighed. Keswick did the same and sat down next to her on the couch. After some silence he raised his voice."The whole thing is w..w..wearing you down, right?"

Kitty just nodded.  
"Kitty, you can´t go on like that. You s..s..should better concentrate on something instead of sitting here grieving about Dudley."  
"And what?"

Keswick had not to think about that long. He knew what would bring her back to action. Well, it wasn´t good from a psychological point of view but letting her sit her was also bad.  
"We know who killed him. We could take him to prison."  
That was the first time Kitty moved. And Keswick could see this spark in her eyes again. And even more, it looked like this spark ignited a whole fire.

"Who?" she hissed with hate.  
"Well, you haven´t heard it because you left the lab before so…"  
"Say the name." she came now real close to Keswick. "Just the name…"  
"Uhm… Scratch."

"Somebody said my name?" a voice called from the bathroom. Then a flushing sound came from the same direction and Scratch stepped into the living room cleaning his hands with a wet tissue. "Salve, amici… Oh, Your basin is broken."

"SCRATCH!" shouted Kitty and was about to get her gun which was in her jacket which lay on a couch nearby but Scratch had his already out. "I wouldn´t recommend that, Miss Katswell. For your own sake." Widely grinning he turned to Keswick. "Ah Mr. Keswick. Pleasure to meet you again. I feel like I almost see you every day."

"YOU!" Keswick pointed angry with his index finger at Scratch. "YOU HARD DRIVE KILLER! DROP Y..Y..YOUR GUN AND FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL MAN!" he looked like he would start to rip of his shirt to start wrestling with Scratch.

"Maybe another day, Mr. Keswick." He pulled out a pair of handcuffs and threw them towards Keswick. "You know the procedure, I think?"  
Keswick cursed loudly and chained himself on the next radiator. Now Scratched focused back on Kitty who gave him just that look full of hate.

"Miss Katswell? Why so angry? Is it because I hid in your house? Don´t panic I just came here a few seconds ago through the window. I´m still pretty good in climbing…"  
"You know exactly why, psychopathic mass murderer!"

"Oh…" said Scratch surprised. "Mass murderer…? I am no mass murderer. Well, I murdered people with mass but I don´t think that counts."  
"TELL THAT SOMEONE ELSE SCRATCH!" she screamed at him.

"No the person I´ll tell is you." Scratch pulled the trigger of his Taser and the two electrodes hit Kitty´s forehead. 10,000 Volt struck through her body and let her twitch like a fish without water. A moment later she lost her conscious.

Scratch face showed no emotion as he lifted her up after watching her twitching for a while.  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HER?! L..L..LEAVE HER ALONE!" Keswick tried to get loose from the radiator but like the last time he was in this situation it was useless to struggle. He had to watch how Scratch carried Kitty´s unconsciousness body through the door of her apartment. Again he felt this fear again. He could only imagine what this sick bastard would do with her.

**-So here we just saw the ****_'What are you doing in my apartment'. _****A plan with three steps. Step1: Get into the apartment. Step2: Suprise the victim. Step3: ...do whatever you want...-**


	13. Dinner time

Kitty opened her eyes. She had no idea where Scratch brought her or where she was at all. She just knew that she sat on a chair and that her left wrist and both of her legs were chained to this chair. Her right hand was free for some reason and she had moved it if she had the strength.

But the aftermaths of the electroshock were still very present. She could barely talk and her limbs felt like they weigh a ton. Besides, she was still twitching uncontrollably. This twitching would last for the next hours, Kitty knew that. This wasn´t the first time a Taser was fired on her and it will probably not be the last time, that was sure.

The first time was a strange T.U.F.F. initiation rite after her training was done. It was the idea of her first partner, Jack Rabbit. He began with that, every recruit who ended the training should get tasered by an older agent. The reason for that was… maybe just fun.

However it somehow prepared the agents for the field missions. If you once tasted the Taser you try as good as possible to not taste it again. After Jack left it was Dudley who maltreated her with this wonderful device. On every stupid occasion.

"Hey Kitty look what I found…" always after she heard these words 10,000 Volt were put on here. If Kitty had the power to grin now she had grinned. Dudley always took care of her after he tasered her down. He did that so caring and loving that she fall in love with him after a while. So the Tasers were actually the reason why they became a couple… the world is a strange place.

Once after he tasered her again she was in her apartment with him alone again she decided to tell him about her feelings. Even if she knew that this could ruin their relationship as partners and friends she couldn´t go on with this hide and seek situation. So she told him and Dudley began to beam happily.

Then he told her with the most unromantic words she ever heard that he felt the same. "Why do you think my Taser always goes off when I´m around you?"

Kitty liked to remember that. These memories were from a better time, an easier time. A time without a sick psychopath called Scratch who tried to kill them all, without a NSA agent who has stolen Dudley´s identity and behaved like the scum of the earth. But a time loving, caring and alive with Dudley. Even if it sounds clichéd wished Kitty that Dudley would be in a better place now. Maybe a place with lot of cheese, Dudley loved cheese.

With loud noises the neon tubes on the ceiling chased away the darkness. A young cat girl, not even twenty years old, entered the room and walked towards Kitty. She knew who that girl was, she saw her sitting on the table with Steiner, Petrović and Scratch in the 'Snap in the box'.

"So you are this agent Katswell? Hm… I imagined that you have more… curves." The girl laughed evily into Kitty´s face. "Anyway, your lack of femininity will make it easier for me to search you." A pair of small delicate hands searched Kitty´s body for guns, knives or anything you could use as a weapon.

The girl finally stopped at her wrist. "What is that? Some kind of watch?" She eyed the device on Kitty´s wrist a bit closer now and Kitty begged that she wouldn´t recognize the high-tec camouflaged in a twenty Dollar Chinese Rolex replica.

"Well, it looks cheap." She commented on the wristcom. "T.U.F.F. doesn´t pay much, does it?"  
Kitty didn´t answer, on the one hand because she just didn´t want to talk to this girl on the other hand because it felt like her tongue still weighed like a rock.

"Scratch said I should let you rest a few hours more, so nighty night." With these words the lights turned off with the same loud sound with that they turned on before.  
The darkness that surrounded her made her drowsy but before she would gave in this inner need to rest she would take care that someone would get her out of here.

With her free right hand she pushed some buttons on the wristcom. A well-known key sequence that activated the tracking device which is integrated in every wristcom.  
"When Keswick is free, they´ll search for me and that will help them… I hope that Keswick can break free… I hope." She closed her eyes and surrender to her inner need to sleep.

After a while, it could be hours or just minutes, Kitty was woken up by the sound of the neon tubes again. Her eyes first needed to get used to the light. But after a while she could see that the room around her changed. In front of her stood a table now which was laid with fancy plates and silver cutlery.

It also looked like somebody painted the walls in a new color, a warm yellow, what made Kitty really wonder how long she slept and where her reinforcement was. But it was of course also possible that they just changed the location. Whatever it was it wasn´t important right now. More important was that Scratch entered the room and sat down on the other side of the table.

"Miss Katswell, welcome. I hope you had a pleasant stay." Scratch took an expensive looking serviette and put it into his collar.  
"You damn son of a…"

"Miss Katswell!" intervened Scratch harshly before she could start insulting him. "Is it really necessary to behave like that?"  
"Was it necessary to kidnap me?" retorted Kitty so harsh that it overcame the tone of voice Scratch used. "Was it necessary to kill 231 innocent people?"

"So you think I am responsible for massacre seven years ago? Interesting, but more interesting is the question why do you believe that." Scratch bend for in his chair and put an interested expression on his face.

"Agent Puppy… Agent Young told us about that very detailed." She said confident.  
"Interesting. So agent Young told you… then it has to be right of course. I mean everything is right as long as a person commanding respect is telling you that. I think there were once two of these people who told you that a big guy with a white beard and a red coat is leaving presents for you under the tree. That must be right." Scratch leaned back in his seat and looked to the ceiling while he had this face that looked like the face of a Greek philosopher who understood a big cosmic truth.

"Whatever. Why should I trust criminal scum like you instead?"  
"Ts ts ts…" giggle Scratch. "I can´t believe what I´m hearing. You hardly know me but you call me nevertheless criminal scum. Think about it, from where do you got these information?"  
"From agent… Young…" Kitty stopped for a second hating the smiling dog on the other side of the table and thought about everything she knew about Scratch.

Everything she knew was drummed into her by this Dudley look-a-like. Why did she just believe that right away without doing her own research? What was wrong with her? She wasn´t so gullible usually. No, usually she wouldn´t believe anything she hadn´t seen with her own eyes. Did she lose this quality? Or was it just the stress of the last days that made her careless?

No matter what it was, she would begin with that again. She was on the source now, if she wanted to know something about Scratch she just had to ask him. Also a perfect chance to check all these street legends that rumored around on the street.

"So it´s wrong that you are a dangerous wanted criminal?"  
"No, that´s true. However just for illegal parking. The police is just too incompetent to prove anything else yet. But… I collected park tickets worth 20,000 Dollar" Scratch looked amused to the ceiling and imagined a bunch of police officers which were crying because they still hadn´t got him.

"And it´s wrong that you once killed a kid?" meant Kitty ending his inner cinema.  
"Once? I did that so often… Oh I think you mean another incident. It was more a midget but basically yes."

"And is it wrong or not that you are controlling the cocaine trafficking of the west coast?"  
"Well, that´s also true." Admitted Scratch and smiled a bit embarrassed. "But I don´t run the business… I have someone who does that. I´m more the guy for action. I don´t like this whole management stuff."

"So everything I have from Young is true?" stated Kitty.  
"Yes, except the thing of the massacre."  
"Then tell me Scratch, is it really a good idea to trust you?" Kitty leaned forward so that her face was very close to his face.

"No, not from this point of view. But let me help you seeing this from another perspective, Miss Katswell." By laying his index finger on her forehead he pushed her back into her seat. "Agent Young came to T.U.F.F. and claimed his name was Dudley Puppy and that he was trying to catch the culprit of the massacre of Petropolis, right?"

"Right." Confirmed Kitty.  
"So he deceived you all and played with your feelings in a disgusting way…"  
"What´s your point?"  
"My point is, why are you hating me if he is the one who did all the things to you. I can´t remember that I lied to you. I can´t remember that I did something bad to you." his voice sounded so unbelievable naïve as he asked that question.

"I HATE YOU BECAUSE YOU KILLED DUDLEY!" she screamed and silence followed her scream.  
Scratch replied nothing, he just looked at her out of his big green eyes which suddenly had a trace of sadness in them. Kitty had never seen this sadness in that moment. She was too heated up by her own emotions too much to recognize such a small giveaway.

The silence became more and more uncomfortable for anyone around. Everyone who had stepped into this room in that moment had felt this oppressive atmosphere which lay in the room like fog above a wet meadow in the morning. It was finally Nefarius, who listened to the whole conversation, who took heart and brought two plates with food to their table.

Like a swarm of grasshopper Scratch began to fight down the food on his plate. The whole food thing felt for Kitty like a desperate attempt to change the subject.  
"Miss Katswell, you have to try this." He spitted with a full mouth. "Oh my god, the sauce!"  
"I´m not hungry."  
"Come on try it. It´s really good." He held his fork under her nose trying to force her to try the food.

"I SAID I´M NOT HUNGRY!" and again silence followed her scream. But this time it was Scratch who broke it. He laid his fork away, sighed and gave her the answer she wanted to hear. "I haven´t killed Puppy."

"I don´t believe you." How could she? This silence and then the subject change. That were indicators that he was trying to hide something from her.  
"Believe what you want." Said Scratch leaving the table. "But think about my words. I´m not the one who was lying to you all the time."

As he was finally out of the room the rat with the kind eyes took Scratch´s place on the table.  
"That didn´t go so well." He meant shaking his head.  
"Indeed." Confirmed Kitty who still looked disgusted after Scratch.

"Don´t be too hard to him, he´s a really nice guy if you know him better… and if you´re able to accept the fact that he´s a brutal cruel criminal who likes Latin… Oh, I think we haven´t met yet. My name is reverend Nefarius. Nice to meet you agent Katswell." Nefarius offered her his hand which she shook immediately. She couldn´t really name the reason why but she trusted this man right away.

It must have been this good feeling he gave everyone around him. You just felt so safe and calm when he was around.  
"I want to apologize for the way we had to get you here. But you have to understand, that was our only opportunity to talk to you in private." His words sounded not like these clichéd criminal pseudo excuses, Nefarius seemed to be very sincere. That let a question arise in Kitty.

"Reverend, mind if I ask you a personal question?"  
"Go ahead." He smiled friendly.  
"Why are you doing this all? I read your file. Why did you become a priest two years ago just to do this? I mean the last two years you did nothing illegal, it seemed you turned your life around and then… You know what I want to say?"

Nefarius nodded. "Yes. And to make this long story short, I´m here because I owe Scratch at least a favor for the things he done for me."  
"But how can you reconcile your criminal activities with your priesthood and your consciousness?"

"Just because I´m a priest it doesn´t mean that I´m just a priest. I´m also a person with all its strengths and weaknesses. And as long as I can still forgive myself for everything I´ve done, god will also do that. And if god forgives me my absolution is complete." Nefarius looked very contented in that moment, like someone who was at peace with the world and himself.

Kitty imagined how this would be, to be free. Free from all these things that kept her from being happy. It must be a wonderful feeling.  
"But, anyway, I´m actually not only here to apologize for our rude behavior towards you. There is a certain reason besides talking why we have kidnapped you."  
"And that´s what?"

"We want to make you an offer. We want you to work for us."  
Kitty couldn´t resist to laugh in disbelieve. "Yeah, sure."  
"I meant that serious. We need your help to end this all. Without bloodshed." Nefarius gave her a stern look and Kitty realized that he really meant that serious.

She shook her head forcefully. "No! I don´t even think about that!"  
"I know that is much…"  
"Much?" she asked unbelieving. "You just asked me to betray all the principles and ideals I live for. Do I ask you to worship Satan? You can´t expect me to do that! No."

Nefarius sighed, but not in an unhappy or disappointed way. "I told Scratch that this wouldn´t work. But maybe if I tell you the whole story, the whole conspiracy…"  
"Conspirancy? What do you…"  
Suddenly, like somebody called him, Scratch entered the room and approached to the table expectantly. "So, what did she say?" he asked his friend.

"I said no!" called Kitty in before Nefarius could answer. "And nothing can change that."  
"What if we tell her everything?" suggested Nefarius.  
"No, she don´t even thinks about coming to our side, so I don´t think that she´ll believe the whole story." Said Scratch to him like Kitty wasn´t there. Then he turned to her. "Why do you have to be so stubborn Miss Katswell? We are doing the right… What´s that?!" Scratch´s eyes were pinned to Kitty´s left wrist. "Please tell me that isn´t what I think it is."

Kitty began to smile evilly. "Got you Scratch."  
Nobody of the persons that were present in this room knew if the following thing was timed or not. But for everyone in there it felt so. Exactly after these words left Kitty´s lips the windows shattered and steel cylinder flew through them which let out a biting steam. Tear gas.

"MOVE FAST WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE." Ordered Scratch like a Sergeant who yells orders to the soldiers on the battlefield. He wanted to run towards the next exit but the door burst open and two T.U.F.F. agents welcomed him with rifles in firing position.

Scratch was too close to them to run away so he decided to knock them down. He hit his fist directly on the throat of the first one what made him drop his gun because he used his hand to hold his throat retching in pains. The second agent was with his finger almost done pulling the trigger but Scratch grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it away from him.

Under the sound of several bullets which left the gun he kicked the agent first on his kneecap and then as he knelt down screaming in pain he rammed his knee into his face with all the strength he had. The agent weakened his grip around his gun and fell to the ground unconsciousness.  
His partner who still stood there retching followed him after Scratch gave him a hit with the gun stock.

"NEFARIUS ARE YOU WAITING FOR AN EXTRA INVITATION? GET HERE!" Scratch screamed in him military voice through the steam to his partner who was still with Kitty and tried to get her untied.  
"JUST ONE SECOND!" he screamed back. "Well, Miss Katswell. It was a pleasure to meet you." he meant coughing to Kitty as he opened the last chains that tied her to the chair. "I hope we see…" Nefarius was stopped in midsentence by a sound that was similar to the plong when you open a bottle of campaign.

Kitty didn´t know what´s wrong, her sight was blurry through all that tear gas. She stood up, turned around and was hardly able to catch the body that fall towards her. She had no idea what was wrong, the steam was too thick but she could feel how a warm fluid began to run down her neck from Nefarius head which lay lifeless at her shoulder.

Shocked she took a breath of the tear gas what made her cough uncontrollable. The disgusting stench of the gas burnt in her nose and her throat. As she was about to breakdown a firm hand pulled a respirator mask over her head. Her lungs filled with fresh air and her sight slowly got back to normal.

The same hand that pulled the mask over her face helped her up from the ground. It was Keswick who stood there also wearing a mask. "Are you okay Kitty?" he asked her worrying seeing the blood on her.

"I´m okay" she panted. "Where is Scratch?"  
"He escaped." Shouted Young angrily who walked up to them carrying a strange looking gun on his shoulder. "And he forgot his waste here." With the tip of his shoe he kicked into the side of Nefarius.

"Stop it!" yelled Kitty at him and knelt down to priest that lay there with his eyes wide open. Even though there was a big hole between his eyes he still had this peaceful expression on his face. Softly stroked Kitty with her hands over his eyes to close them. She took his hands and folded them on his chest. Kitty felt something like grief for this man even if he was her kidnappers.

"Can we somehow find out where Scratch is now?" the chief asked while he was watching how Kitty showed some respect to the dead man.  
"No but like I know him he´ll be gone for a while now. He´ll need a new plan, a new team and some time to lick his wounds." Meant Young and put the gun down on the ground like a walking cane. "I think it´s time to celebrate now."

**-Seems like the T.U.F.F. agents finally won. But it´s still not the end.-**


	14. Poke the dragon

The next morning came fast almost surprising for the people of Petropolis. It was like the cold winter sun just popped up on the sky this morning. Just two days until it was the 25th of December and just one day before the every year obsequies of the Petropolis massacre. The year before the coming holidays had outweighed the melancholy you feel about such event but this year to many old wounds which seemed to be healed were reopened.

The worst thing about it was that it was always the same. The bad guy escaped and left a couple of corpses. That was the thing the chief hated about his job. Sometimes the story never gets a satisfying end. Just corpses and confused people who ask the same question again and again. Why? Why all the dead? Why all this madness?

And they all asked him. Like he had the answer for everything. Like he had the key to explain all the reasons. In the end he was just another perplex sheep in the crowed which was joining in their choir.  
Disillusion and tiredness sprawled where once dynamism and panache lived in him.

But all the chaos of the last days showed him something. It was time for him. Time to pass the key to this office to someone else as long he could. He finally signed the papers who lay for so long untouched in his drawers. Kitty would be a great new chief, he was sure about that. Even if he still had the fear that she would end up alone like him he finally understood that he couldn´t protect her forever.

She was old enough to life her own life, to walk her own path. And wherever this path would lead her, the chief just hoped that she would have never look back with sadness. He hoped that she would be stronger than him and take a better path.

The chief packed his stuff. Everything that was on the table wandered into a brown paper box. Some things he laid into the box very quick but some things he held in his hand for a while and reminisced. A picture of him and his first partner while they captured their first villain kept him in memories a bit longer.

If he could give Kitty just one piece of advice before she start as new chief it would be that she should definitely go on field missions. The chief realized one thing while being the chief. Paperwork is boring. Reading a five pages long report that justifies why an agent pulled his gun out is not as exciting as it sounds.

The paper work takes everything of you with the time. Especially your courage. There were nights the chief wished he had more of it. Even if that maybe meant that he would be dead now. It´s always the courage that kills the agents and after years of paper work you lose it... like your integrity.

As it knocked on the door the chief was glad that he would get a short break from all this thinking.  
"Enter." He ordered and Keswick stepped into the room.  
"Morning chief." He yawned tired until he saw the brown box on the table. Keswick knew what that meant. "Really?"

"Yep, really." Confirmed the chief the unbelieving gaze he received from Keswick. "It´s time to sail on. My time as the chief will end in a month. Oh, and from now on you can stop calling me chief. You can call me Herbert."  
"Wow that sounds somehow s..s..strange. But let´s try it Herbert." The way Keswick said the name of the chief sounded like he was trying to spit out something.

"We should practice that." Meant the chief in view of this failed talk attempt. "Anyway, what´s the matter Keswick?"  
"The whole s..s..situation is the matter! Scratch is still free and this agent Young is still around. Call me crazy but I still don´t trust this g..g..guy. There is a mystery about that guy."

"And what do you want me to do now?"  
"I want you to do what every T.U.F.F. a..a..agent should do. Solve t..t..this case!" Keswick beat his fist on the chief´s empty table. "Or at least take care that Y..Y..Young disappears. It´s hard enough for Kitty to deal with Dudley´s death without having this Dudley look-a-like around!"

The chief sighed. Keswick was right not only that it was hard for Kitty to have Young around he reminded also him on this stupid happy dog which he was missing. He grabbed the phone and dialed the number of an old friend and former partner who was working at the NSA. As the hoarse voice answered the phone the chief couldn´t resist smiling in nostalgia.

"Baker."  
"Hey Matt, Herbert here."  
"Herb? Is that really you?" the voice sounded surprised and happy at the same time. "How have you been? Oh my god that must have been five years now since we saw each other. You´re still at T.U.F.F.?"

"I´m fine. And yes, still at T.U.F.F.. You know me I´m not the kind of guy who is getting around. Also being the chief here is pretty nice."  
"Yeah, you stay your ground." Laughed the voice from the other side of the line. "Even if you're the chief for a pretty long time now… Man, I remember the times when they changed them every five years. But at least they have the best man for a permanent chief. Anyway my friend, what can I do for you? I think you didn´t call just to reminisce about the good old times."

"Indeed. I need a few information about one of your agents. Agent Young."  
"Well my friend, you have to be a bit more precisely." The voice said. "We have I think about six dozen agent Young here."  
"I don´t have more… just that he´s here at T.U.F.F." admitted the chief bewildered.

"Well that´s impossible." Stated the voice sternly.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Haven´t you heard about the fiasco in north Afghanistan?" asked the voice confused, actually Herbert should have known about this incident. It got around in the spy scene. "Our whole operation there was uncovered. Right now we have withdrew all agents from every operation back to the HQ to protect them. Also every single agent Young."

"Wait, do you mean that…"  
"It´s possible that this guy isn´t the man he pretends to be" completed the voice the chief´s sentence "… but I can speak of course just about operations and agents that are working under the low to mid security level. What happens on the higher levels is unknown to me."

"Okay, thanks Matt."  
"Any time Herb." Said the voice and ended the conversation. Pensively looked the chief to Keswick who had understood the most of the conversation.  
"I knew that s..s..something was wrong with the guy" he growled angry.

"Well that isn´t proofed yet." The chief pulled his phone close to him and picked up the speaker. "But soon."  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean that you will go and get me a lot of coffee. That stuff will keep me in a good mood while I suck up to a few high rank military guys." Explained the chief and dialed a number.

Like already mentioned for most people the morning came fast but for a few the night wasn´t over yet. And for Scratch it felt like the night would maybe never end. He sat there on the bed in the stuffy motel room and stared out of his bloodshot eyes at the wall. It was over. His past finally mange it to get him and destroy the present.

And that was all his fault. He poked the dragon and now he had to witness how everything burns under his mighty breath. In this moment he remembered that what he said to Kitty. That this is a game of giants… He realized now that he was no giant too.

Scratch sighed and his eye wandered to the bottle of wine on his table. 'In vino veritas', in wine there is the truth. That´s at least what the old Latins said. They were right. Scratch realized now that his whole plan was doomed to fail. How could he even think that it would happen like he imagined?

Stealing this documents walking into the T.U.F.F. HQ discredit him by unmasking him, revealing the whole conspiracy and then proof everything with the files. That was a lousy plan for Scratch´s standards. But collecting all that stuff took so much time that there was just not enough to think of something better. Time was the only thing that was missing in his whole plan. A month more and he had maybe got him on another way. A month more and Nefarius would still be alive.

The thought was pure torture for him. Knowing that he could have saved his friend if was more careful. The first thing his mind did was of course search the fault somewhere else. It was Parva who hadn´t searched Kitty right and Scratch screamed at her loudly and angrily until Seneca stepped protecting in front of her and pushed him back.

His words still echoed in his head. "Leave her alone! It was just your fault!"  
He was right. It was really a bad idea to let the newbie search the hostage in such a critical mission. Scratch could have sent Nefarius or Seneca but he sent Parva. Also his idea to leave one of her arms untied so that she could eat was idiotic. What was wrong with him? He has been making a lot more mistakes since it seemed that Nemesis came to an end.

An end that was now unreachable. Even though he had everything, all the evidences, all the files, all the photos he couldn´t use them. Who would believe him now? His enemy could move now under the T.U.F.F. agents without his masquerade and without the fear of getting caught.

Scratch stood up from the chair just to flop down on the bed again. If he could just close his eyes now and pretend that this would be a dream. He wished he could have the omnipotence of a god to just turn back time and forget about this whole Nemesis plan. He had numerous chances to kill this guy, why hadn´t he just done it? It would be so easy. Ramming the knife into the chest, breaking his neck or just shoot him.

A lot of people would be still alive if he had chosen the simple way. But no, he wanted a show. He wanted to catch him and that everybody sees the dragon he had caught. A villain that was trying to be a hero… it´s easier to fall then to rise, he knew that now.

Of course his reason weren´t just egoistic. He also wanted to avenge those who couldn´t avenge them self, revenge for the weak that can´t help themselves. He also wanted to catch the ones who are capable. The culprit and the men behind. He needed him alive to get the mentioned men behind, that was the problem. If it weren´t the problem a knife would be deep in his throat already.

But where did this all bring him? Here, on this bed, alone. Of course there was one last chance to achieve what he wanted but that would be risky. And Scratch didn´t know if he was ready to risk more. He maybe lost two people now but his plan could cost much more lifes… lifes that would maybe even end without is intervention. That was the question, will T.U.F.F. be able to put two and two together?

Scratch felt numb and tired as he leaned back to lie on the bed. But he couldn´t sleep. It was like the sandman was trying to punish him for what he did.  
Scratch didn´t move in his sadness. He didn´t even move as the door opened and someone entered.

"Hey, Scratch" greeted Parva softly. She had this tone of voice that you could call in cotton packed cotton candy. "I´m just here to apologize for… the whole thing."  
"You don´t need to apologize… it was my fault and not yours. I´m sorry that I shouted at you kiddo."

Scratch sat up on the bad and gave Parva a forced smile which still could melt an ice block. She wanted to smile back but as she saw Scratch´s eyes she winced. They were bloodshot, yes, but they were also red and swollen. "What´s with your…" she raised her index finger disgusted and pointed in his face.

"Just my contacts… I should remove them from time to time. Just give me a minute in the bathroom and I´ll be fine."  
"Maybe your eyes but the rest of you…" she stopped for a second. "I talked to Seneca"  
"It´s hard to imagine that you two could talk without fighting…"

"I know." Parva giggled a bit but fall back into this sad mood. "We want to quit. He means that this went way too far and I agree with him."  
Scratch didn´t answer. He just sat there. Well, it was clear that the two didn´t want to move on after that and he couldn´t hold anything against that.

"We will drive to Petsburg and watch how they light up the big Christmas tree tomorrow and eat something after that. I always did that with my dad." Parva took a deep breath now that her dad came to her mind. She didn´t want to cry now, it wasn´t the time for that. "We want you to come with us."

Scratch thought about these words. It sounded nice. Having some kind of Christmas dinner, watching how they light up the tree… like a family would do. But could he play alternative family with Seneca and Parva while in Petropolis the doors of heel opening? Wouldn´t be everything in vain then? The last seven years of suffering? Could he really forget the past?

"What do you think?" she asked after a short break.  
"I refuse."  
"Really?" asked Parva surprised.  
"Yeah, even if that sounds nice, I refuse. I can´t stop now. I didn´t come this far to turn around now. I have to bring this to an end. I can´t let these guys win!"

"But is that really necessary? Do you really have to do that."  
"My whole existence is geared towards this goal." Explained Scratch sternly. "Yes, it is necessary and yes I have to do this. Or I die trying."

Parva sighed, she knew that she couldn´t change his mind now. He made his decision. All she could do was wishing him the best and say goodbye. "So be it Scratch. I hope that we see again when this is all over… When you survive this all… please give us at least a call." She gave him a hug and left the motel room.

He was lying alone on his bed again. But this time he closed his eyes and began with a new plan. Even if he couldn´t sleep he could at least plan his next step.


	15. Cui bono

If it´s night or day, cemeteries always give you this certain uneasy feeling. You just don´t want to spend more time there then necessary. Kitty actually didn´t want to spend any time there. But she had her reason and it hadn´t to do with the memorial service that was this evening. Her reason was a mysterious phone call two hours ago that woke her up.

She wanted to sleep in that morning because the chief gave her time off, probably that she could think a bit. Clearing her mind from all the chaos. Kitty was too tired to resist to that. Even if she wanted to work her body forced her to stop. Doctor Prince would say that it´s the manifestation of suppressed a psychological trauma. But no matter how you like to call it, her hands shivered almost uncontrollable.

Sometimes she wished that the doctor would just give her some pills that this would finally end but every time she asked for a pharmaceutical solution for her problems the doctor said "Miss Katswell, you have no mental disease requires medical treatment. You´re just a person who´s been through a lot of stuff. You need time and a psychological treatment to be the person you´ve been. That´s all."

Time… that was a lie he believed . Seven years have passed since the massacre and she was still not the person she once was. Could she even be this person again?  
"See that´s exactly the reason why the chief gave you time off." She said to herself in a scolding way. "You think too much."

Still tired she looked on the little note she has written after this phone call. They voice on the phone of which she believed it was Scratch said just these words before it hung up. "Meet me at the grave of reverend Nefarius in two hours." Now she walked around on this cemetery and searched for the grave.

It wasn´t so easy to find. Kitty read through the list of lately buried person but there was no Nefarius on it. It took her a while to remember that his name was actually Ilija Petrović not Nefarius.  
Now almost two hours after the phone call she had finally found the grave. A big pile of earth almost covered the little brown wooden cross on which the true name of Nefarius was written.

Calling this resting place simple would be exaggerated but T.U.F.F. didn´t spend much money for villains. Kitty eyed the grave and couldn´t resist feeling sad for the old man. It was a shame that he had to die and Scratch could live on.

"He didn´t deserved that." A voice behind Kitty spoke out the words she thought. "He deserved much more."  
"You´ve got some nerves to show up here!" Meant Kitty surprised that Scratch really came.  
He replied with a tired smile and continued. "This man was a saint, Kitty. And now he´s dead. Sometimes… I have the feeling that with every saint that we burry the world gets a bit darker and crueler."

Kitty was a bit confused that he called her 'Kitty' but she didn´t question that. "Was he really a saint Scratch? In the end he was a criminal like you." even if she liked the old man, Kitty tried to remember the fact that he was a criminal. Her enemy. "I don´t think that a saint puts a pearl on his rosary for every person he killed." She added.

"Quid est veritas? Or is that again something your friend agent Young told you?" asked Scratch and he could see in Kitty´s eyes that he was right. "The pearls on his rosary." Started Scratch. "Have a special meaning. It´s true that they are symbols for dead people. But not for the people he killed. Otherwise this rosary would be much longer. No, every single pearl symbolizes a person that died during his missions. Every pearl is an innocent person that he couldn´t save. If you get the chance to take a closer look on the rosary you will see that every pearl is different. Every pearl has its own story and Nefarius knew them all. He prayed every night for them. I once asked him why he did that. I wanted to know if he feels guilty or something. He just smiled at me and said_ I don´t feel guilty my friend. I made my peace, forgave myself. And through that god forgave me. But I owe this people something because I couldn´t save them. What I owe them is to keep them in memory, to keep them in my heart. In me, they live on._" Scratch stopped for a second and Kitty wondered if she really saw a tear in the corner of his eye. "Requiescas in pace mea amicus."

And then the two kept silent. They listened to the cold wind that blew over the cemetery. Dark clouds gathered over the city and it looked like it would rain any minute now. But instead of a shower small white crystals fall from the sky. First just a few but these few were the heralds of a dense snowfall that would hit the city. A snowflake fall on Kitty cheek and transformed to a drop of water immediately.

"Seems like Mr. Young was right." Meant Scratch looking up into the dark sky.  
"Scratch, what do you want from me? Why this meeting?" Kitty finally asked the obvious question.  
"The only thing I want is that you believe me. Just for one second. Please Kitty." There was it again. He called her Kitty. The way he did that gave her strange feeling which she couldn´t name.

"I listen but I can´t promise that I believe."  
"Well, that´s at least something." Scratch cleared his throat and began with a narrator voice to tell his story and not in a telegraph style.

"Seven years ago a psychopath committed an atrocity on the citizens of Petropolis. 231 deaths 30 wounded. The city panicked and was completely headless. Everybody searched for the psychopath but nobody asked for the reasons of this massacre. A little search and logic would have been enough to find out that it was not just the deed of a mentally disturbed man. If the investigators just took a closer look at the list of victims they had maybe found a pattern. Let´s take a look who received the first bullets. Malcom Reed. Head of police, dead now. Mayor Teddy Bear, dead now. Edward Krieger. CEO of KPET, dead now. Seymour Cow. Judge, dead now. Howard Lewis, CFO of the Petropolis national bank, dead now. Chief Herbert Dumbrowski, Chief of T.U.F.F., and several police officers, injured…"

"The chief was injured?!" it burst out of Kitty. She hadn´t knew that.  
"Just a graze shot, he left the hospital on the same day. But if you noticed it, the father of your partner Rick Lewis was killed! Didn´t you know that?! Anyway…" Scratch shook his head and continued telling his story. "Legislative executive judicative, the media and the financial system. Almost all of them wiped out on one afternoon. Coincidence? Certainly not. This wasn´t a massacre, Kitty. This was a planned assassination."

"What?!" she asked confused. "That doesn´t make sense!"  
"It does" replied Scratch calmly.  
"No! It doesn´t! Why should somebody kill 200 people if his actual aim were just five."

"Well, this fact shows the cruelty of the people who planned all of this. Think about it. If you assassinate five people it´s an assassination. The question always asked when someone gets assassinated is, cui bono. Who benefits? But if you kill a lot of people…"

"No one would ask that…" Kitty completed Scratch´s sentence slowly.  
"Right."  
"So… cui bono?"

"Think about it, who died?" Scratch began to circle around her. "The Mayor, two weeks before the election. A media mogul who supported the mayor´s party. A chief judge who also in the ex-mayor´s party. The head of the Petropolis bank, supporting them with money. And the chief of the police. Now let´s see what happened after that. Mayor Willson won the election after that against ex-mayor Bear´s ex-deputy. Willson´s buddy White became the new chief lawyer and the chief inspector Robson also a good friend of them both became police chief. And the fourth in league Ryan Johnson also a media mogul bought KPET and the Petropolis bank."

"So you want to say that this is a conspiracy by these four?" Kitty gazed shocked at Scratch.  
"No, these four are egoistic idiots. Even their four brains together couldn´t come up with something like that. But, think of one thing. Idiots are easy to control. Like marionettes. But if you ask me who the puppeteer is, I have to owe you an answer. The only one who could know this is the tool.  
The one who is capable for this assault. The one I´ve been hunting since almost seven years.  
Bill Young."

Scratch said the name like it was a curse. "And there is another thing. Seven years past and now. Just a few weeks before the seventh anniversary of the massacre this agent Young reappears wearing Dudley Puppy´s face as a disguise. Again a coincidence? I doubt that again… Election Day is soon. And the marionettes need an assurance that they stay in office."

Kitty needed a moment to summarize this all for herself. A conspiracy, an as massacre covered assault and, what was the best, a NSA agent who was involved in this all. That sounded more like the plot of a James Bond movie than something that could have happened in the reality.

"Can you even proof this?" she finally said after a few minutes of silence.  
"Of course, what do you think I´ve done the last years? Playing ping pong?" Scratch pulled a file out of his heavy coat he was wearing and handed it to Kitty. "Everything is in there. We collected the last few evidences recently. You haven´t even realized that there was a break-in in the Petropolis archive, have you?"

"No..." meant Kitty realizing that the thing in the bank was just distraction. "But... how can I make sure that this isn´t a fake? A big hoax created by you to make me do what you want."  
"Kitty." Sighed Scratch. "The real question is not if you believe me or not. The real question what happens if you don´t believe me but I´m right?"

That was a good point and even if Kitty didn´t like Scratch she had to admit that he was right. Nevertheless it was hard to trust this guy.  
"Well, it´s time." Said Scratch and put his hands up like he was threatened by a guy with a gun. "Come out there Young, do you think I haven´t seen you?"

Sarcastically clapping his hands Young stepped out from his hiding place behind a big tombstone and walked towards them. "Nice little story you told her, Scratch. It had everything. A crime, a bad guy working in the shadows, misled investigators. Really nice, but nevertheless fiction."

Young stretched a bit and looked at Scratch with a triumphing grin. "So what now, my old fiend."  
"My hands are already up. Go for it."  
"You´re right." Said Young and beat his first into Scratch´s stomach.

"Carpe diem." Howled Scratch deriding his enemy as he sunk on his knees.  
"Oh still in the mood to make jokes." Smirked young and raised his knee. It didn´t miss its target and sent Scratch unconsciousness to the ground. "Yeah, that´s how it should be." He pulled his gun out of his holster and pointed it at Scratch. "Goodbye you sick…"

"Enough!" shouted Kitty and snatched the gun out of his hand. She was so fast that Young stood there for a second gazing confused at his empty hands wondering where his gun was.  
"Katswell, what´s going on?"  
"I will not watch how you kill him."  
"So you believe the shit he told you?" asked Young even more surprised.

"What I believe in are principles like every criminal deserves a fair trial." Kitty lifted Scratch´s body over her shoulder with an ease you didn´t expect from her when you just see her and left the cemetery. Agent Young followed her the whole way. To the parking lot, then to the T.U.F.F. building and finally into the interrogation room where she placed the still unconsciousness Scratch on a chair.

Over her wristcom she informed the chief and Keswick about her catch and waited for their arrival. Both of them were astonished about the catch Kitty made on her free day.  
"Excellent work Kitty." Praised the chief as he saw Scratch through the window of the interrogation room.

"Actually it was my work." Laughed Young out of the corner of the room.  
"Really?"  
"Really."  
"Well then good work. Anyway." The chief averted his gaze from Young and back to Scratch. "Who´s going to talk to him?"

"I can try it I mean… Keswick what are you doing?!" screamed Kitty after Keswick who entered the room and began to slap Scratch furiously.  
"I´LL TEACH YOU TO C..C..CLEAN MY HARD DISKS!" he yelled at the still unconsciousness Scratch who began to wake up slowly under this beating.

"What?" he stammered surprised as Kitty pulled the angry Keswick away from him.  
"Keswick, what are you doing?!"  
"Giving t..t..this guy what he deserves!" he cried.

"Geez, Mr. Keswick. I´m sorry, I couldn´t know that these hard disks are so precious to you." moaned Scratch more because of the aftermaths of the beating of Young than of the beating of Keswick. Now the chief also entered the room and hopped on the table.

"Agents stop it!" he ordered to his team. "And you Scratch, I think it´s time that you give us some answers."  
Scratch grabbed the file which Kitty had in her coat and threw it on the table. "Everything you need to know is here." He leaned back in his seat as the others darted their full attention at the file. The chief was the first who looked back at Scratch and meant. "Well, there is still the possibility that this is a hoax you created. I mean…"

"Wait" interrupted Scratch the chief as he finally realized it. "Where is Young?!"  
"I made him leaving the building." meant the chief. "While you tried to calm Keswick down I said he should get out of here before I would arrest him. I explained to him that we found out that he isn´t a T.U.F.F. agent but because he helped to arrest you I haven´t put him into jail. He just laughed and said that it doesn´t matter anymore... that he finally got everything together. I still don´t understand it but at least he´s gone now. One threat less…"

Scratch and Kitty exchanged serious looks. "Oh damn!" they both said and Kitty sprinted out of the room. She could hear Scratch yelling after her "Hey, take me with you!" But there was neither enough time to get Scratch out of the T.U.F.F. detention nor she trusted him enough to take him with her.

Time was the deciding factor this time. She could save a lot of lifes is she´s fast enough.  
Scratch stayed in the room with Keswick and the chief who looked asking at him.  
"Where is she g..g..going?"  
"She is trying to prevent the culprit of the Petropolis massacre from doing the exact same thing again." He explained.

"WHAT?!" The chief and Keswick asked in unison.  
"Yes, Young was the man you searched for all the time! Haven´t you just read the file?! He did the massacre and he will make another one!"

"WHERE?!"  
"Where would you do it? What would be the most symbolic place? The church of course! The church in which they have the memorial service for the victims of…" Scratch wanted to finish his sentence but there was no one left in this room who could hear his words. Keswick and the chief had rushed out of the room.

Scratch looked at the door which they had closed tightly before the left. Panic and anger rose in him. Panic because he could maybe miss the moment he worked for seven years. And anger because he was trapped in this room.

"I´ll find my way to my destiny." He thought and began to think how he could open the door.

**-Seems like we´re coming to the final showdown soon. So Young is the bad guy and Scratch just wanted to stop him. But now Scratch is trapped in the interrogation room. Seems like everything depends on Kitty. Will she stop Young? -**


	16. Ten seconds

"Seven years." The heavy voice of the priest filled every corner of the Petropolis church. No one could not here the man in his robe preaching on the pulpit. "It´s been seven years since many of lost someone precious. A mother, a father, a sister, a brother or a friend. They were all ripped out of our lifes on this fateful day. And left us in confusion and sadness. And even these seven years past we still can feel these feelings. And it still hurts. The wounds we have may aren´t bleeding anymore but they never closed. Now we are all here gathered in one place and put salt in this wound. Many of you may ask. _Why am I still doing this? It´s seven years ago._ You´re may right. It hurts and will hurt forever but the alternative is to forget. And forgetting these beloved person is like they die a second time. So, let´s see this day as a day on which we can be sad on which we grief and on which we remember the 24th of December. The day god took our beloved to him."

The priest opened the heavy bible in front of him. His finger glided over the paper to a special verse he had prepared for this day. While he was turning some pages in his bible he let his gaze wander over his herd. A few people were missing who promised to come.

Especially the absence of the mayor was a bit confusing, he was usually here every year since the massacre. Very strange but it was his decision. He could be here and catch some votes for the coming election or be at home and maybe lose it. It didn´t look good for him anyway. The people wanted somebody new as mayor, they wanted change.

At least city council Peterson was here. He did what the mayor should do, catch some votes before the election starts. It was pretty clear for everyone around that he would win the election and be the new mayor.

With the slight grin the priest thought about maybe calling him mayor Peterson when he would have a conversation with him on the funeral processing after the service.  
He took a deep breath to start the lesson. "And the Lord…"

"… is dead!" shouted the voice of a white dog that just entered the church with a big gun on his shoulder. "If I´m allowed to quote Nietzsche here. And you know who killed him? All of you!" He pointed the gun around. "There is a price for killing such a mighty being like god!" He opened the coat he was wearing and around his waist a few cube shaped grey packages which were all together connected to wires became visible. The mourners around him froze in fear. They knew what he was wearing there. A bomb belt.

"All of you now, gather there in the corner if you want to survive." Ordered the white dog and the crowed detached from their paralysis to obey.  
"Good." He growled satisfied. "Now let´s begin with the punishment. First bring me the priest!"  
In fear and panic the crowed pushed the priest out of it. The priest lost his balance and landed on his knees in front of the dog.

"You´re ready for your punishment?" he asked the priest who folded his hands and prayed furiously for a miracle that could safe him in this moment. And right in this moment it seemed like good heard the prayer of his servant because he sent him an angle in shape of a female cat which stood with her gun ready to fire at the gates of the church.

"Drop the gun and stop this shit, agent Young!"  
"Oh great…" annoyed kicked Young the priest away from and targeted on Kitty with his rifle. "You destroyed the whole show Katswell! It could be so nice. I´d killed all of them and everyone had believed it would be the work of a religious fantastic psychopath. No connection to the massacre seven years ago! Of course one of them had survived to tell that. But now you have spoiled everything…"

"You know that you just confessed all of it and confirmed everything what Scratch said?" asked Kitty surprised about the fact that Young dropped all of his cover. Even after she entered the church he had still the chance to pretend that he was a religious fanatic.  
"You wouldn´t be here if you don´t believe what Scratch said and…" Young put a wide grin on his face. "Do you think anyone here will survive to tell that after I confessed?"

"Try it!" shouted Kitty. "You´re surrounded and three dozen T.U.F.F. agent just wait to rush in here and introduce you to their guns! Drop the damn gun! And surrender, you´re under arrest!"  
"Well, that´s somehow true." He giggled evilly. "But the subject in your last sentence is wrong. You see, I´m wearing enough C4 here in my coat to blow this whole church up. But that´s not all. At the beginning of this week I visited an old friend of mine, he´s working in a kindergarten. Somewhere here in Petropolis. He was so nice to store a little box for me there. With the same material in it."

"No you haven´t…" whispered Kitty shocked.  
"Yes I have. But the really cool thing is that I connected all the charges to one detonator and the best thing is that it´s one of these heart beat detonators. Special thanks to good old Rick by the way for helping me getting the stuff. Ha! That poor boy didn´t even notice that in this box was more than just parts for this gun. It was so easy to get the C4 and the detonators out of the box while he went upstairs to turn on the lights in the lab. Anyway, I think you know how a heartbeat detonator works?  
If I die a lot of parents will cry on the graves of their little children. So…" Young pulled out a second gun and pointed it against his head. "… I think you are under arrest."

He smiled at here with such a disgusting smile that Kitty could almost puke at the floor. Even if he wore Dudley´s face he was able to contort it in an away Dudley never could. "Oh, and would you be so kindly to tell the mob out there to leave? Or…" Young began to cock his gun.

Gnashing her teeth she yield and whispered in her wristcom. "All of you withdraw! Code Red!"  
"Good girl." Praised Young grinning. "And now you drop you´re gun."  
"Oh no I w…"  
"Why! Why did my child deserve to die!" he screamed with a high voice imitating a mother.

"You damn mother*cker." Kitty cursed and threw her gun away. With an angry expression she put her hands up and gave Young a look that could just mean _'If I have the chance I break all of the bones in your body.' _

Young didn´t care about her look, he has devoted himself to a question he wondered about the whole time since Kitty entered the church.  
"Katswell, Katswell, Katswell…" He sighed and walked towards her. "… why are you here? I mean you knew everything. You knew how dangerous I am, what I´m capable to do… and you still come here. Tell me Katswell… are you stupid or something?"  
"I´m doing my duty!" she said emphatically.

"That´s not an answer to my questions." Young approached a few steps towards Kitty and stopped suddenly. "Oh I think I got it now. You searching for death, don´t you?" He grabbed Kitty´s chin and looked deep in her green eyes. "Yes you do! And I haven´t seen that the whole time. You should have said something. I had helped you." He giggled amused.

Kitty was so sick of his behavior that her disgust and ager against Young manifest in one action. She spitted right into his face and added "Why don´t we end this here and now?"  
Young swung his hand and slapped Kitty so hard that she almost stumbled. "Because I still wait for the last part in this tragicomedy. The Protagonist. I want to achieve maximum damage."

"Who do you mean?!" she asked the Dudley look-a-like rubbing her cheek.  
"ME!" A voice from behind Kitty shouted. She knew the voice well enough now to know that it belonged to Scratch. "He means me!"

"Scratch!" Kitty gazed confused at the criminal who just entered the church. "What are you doing here? And how did you escaped out of T.U.F.F. detention?!"  
"Uhm… well…" Scratch stammered and looked guilty to the ground.

"You really still don´t have the balls to tell here?!" Laughed Young disdainfully. "Don´t you think she deserves to know?"  
"What do you know?!" Scratch retorted with sudden anger in his voice. "It´s better for her not to know."

"If you won´t tell her I will." Young´s words sounded like a threat and they also seem to have such an impact on Scratch. His eyes widened and something like fear was in his face.  
"Tell me what?" Kitty asked and both of them began to fall silent.

"TELL ME WHAT?" she repeated so loud that it even scared the crowed that stood almost 20 meters away from them.  
"Ah… nothing. Just a little story. A legend if you want." Meant Young in a casual way. "About a young boy who went out into the world to search for vengeance. But all what he found was the worst in himself. A story about a boy that became slowly to the thing he hated…"

"Until he found salvation... through a friend." Interrupted Scratch. "Who showed him that there is more than just hate. That there is more than just himself."  
"But his drive always stayed the same, right Scratch?" asked Young concluding the story. "Just a little boy crying for his mommy, angry because the big bad man hurt his friends. Nothing more or am I mistaken?"

"What?! Wait, what?!" Kitty asked totally perplex looking alternately at Scratch and Young.  
"You still don´t understand it?!" Young sounded somehow shocked that Kitty couldn´t understand what seemed so obvious to him. "I ask you again how you were able to become a T.U.F.F. agent?"

"Because she is brilliant! She can do things no one else can and she has this certain ideas no one else has. Also she is stubborn, what makes her bite into every case until it´s closed. All these things make you brilliant, Kitty." Kitty felt something strange something familiar as she heard Scratch talking about her like that but she still wasn´t able to say what it was.

"Oh how sweet." Mocked Young. "But I think Katswell still has no idea. Let´s give her a clue! Scratch, answer the question Katswell asked you. How did you get out of T.U.F.F. detention?"  
"I...I.. picked the lock." Scratch looked at bit helpless as he told that. You didn´t have to be an expert to tell that he was lying.

"No you haven´t…" whispered Kitty and she stepped towards Scratch. She knew that you couldn´t just pick the lock to get out of T.U.F.F. detention. You need to go through a dozen security checkpoints and you have to pass a whole battalion of agents on their guard. If you don´t know the exact way, if you don´t have the codes and if you don´t have any clue about the number of patrolling agents and the ways they go it´s impossible to escape out of the building.

Except… you once worked there. Scratch looked guilty to the ground again as Kitty touched his face. It felt so familiar even if she never touched Scratch before she just somehow knew him. Scratch sighed and opened his eyes widely. With one hand he held the lids of his right eye so it couldn´t close as he used his other hand to remove the contact lens out of his eye. He repeated this procedure with his second eye.

The once green eyes had now a completely different color… they were blue now.  
Shocked and confused backed Kitty away from Scratch. "No, no, no, no!" she stammered. "That´s impossible. You can´t be Dudley!"

"No… it isn´t." sighed Scratch in a guilty way. "Hi Kitty… it´s been a while."  
"But how… how is that…" Kitty couldn´t even finish a sentence. Her brain was just too overwhelmed by that.

"Agent Young isn´t the only one who changed his look..."  
"Ah, don´t pretend it was your intention to do this!" Young rolled his eyes.  
"Not really but…" Dudley pulled two knives out of his pocket. "I think we´re not here to discuss this old story, are we?"

"Really?" The Dudley look-a-like eyed the knives in Dudley´s hands mockingly. "You brought a knife to gunfight? Even for you that´s stupid."  
"Well I thought we do it like back then in this forge near Moscow." He threw one knife into the ground in front of Young´s feet.

"I shouldn´t do that but… what would be life without a little fun." Full of recklessness coming from his reassurance around his waist, he picked up the knife and threw his guns away. "This time I won´t just burn your face." With impressive agility jumped Young towards Dudley who could almost not dodge him.

But now he had the advantage. As Young landed on the ground and turned towards him he pulled the knife as fast and as hard as he could over his big black nose. Howling stepped the hurt dog a few steps back and hold the big bleeding scar on his face which divided his nose in two.

"Now we´re even…"growled Dudley and the two rushed up to each other with their knives ahead. Both of them grabbed with their free hands the knife-hand of their opponent. The two pushed against each other until one of them tripped and they formed a big wrestling knot on the ground.

It became apparent that Dudley as well as Young knew how to fight with a knife. None of them could really gain the upper hand in this fight. They just rolled around on the church floor.  
Kitty watched the two and couldn´t differentiate who is who in this knot.

Also she couldn´t decide on which side she should be, which one of them she should help. Dudley aka Scratch or agent Young, the psychopath. Of course it would be right to help Dudley but Young still had this bomb.

Dudley in the meantime was able by using his weighed to get on top of Young and pressed the knife down on him.  
Panic rose in Kitty, she couldn´t allow that a kindergarten got bombed away.

"No the bomb!" shouted Kitty and Dudley looked confused at her. This little moment of distraction was enough for Young to get his foot on Dudley´s chest. He kicked him so hard that Dudley flew of him and rolled all the way back to the gates of the church.

Coughing he tried to get up again. His scar hurt and burnt like it did in the time it was still new and Dudley had the feeling that it maybe reopened. Nothing that he would deal with now but something that could probably hurt afterwards… if he would survive that.

"I poked the dragon" he thought as got back on his feet just to get punched by Young with full speed. Even the big door could completely break him as he flew back. Luckily it wasn´t hard solid stones on which he landed but snow. The light blizzard which raged in the city did good work. In a few hours he created a snow layer so thick that it made falling on it almost comfortable.

"Seems like the tables turned." Sneered Young as he walked down the big stone stairs that led to the church gates. "I will spill your blood in the snow." He played with the knife in his hands laughing and came slowly closer and closer to Dudley.

Oddly, he became with every step this psychopath came closer to him calmer. His mind pulled himself together and banned the adrenalin which hindered him from thinking rational. With this clear mind he knew what to do. This fight wouldn´t last much longer than ten seconds but if he would survive it was unsure. Everything depended on how he could block Young´s knife.

Taking a last deep breath he got ready for the moment Young was close enough to him.  
"In medio stat veritas." He growled threatening from the ground. "Maybe not your blood got spilled here. But I will certainly gain the victory."

"I would really like to see…" Young´s sentence stayed unfinished as Dudley jumped up from the ground. Reflexive he rammed his knife towards the attacking Dudley. And even if he had tried to block the knife he could just change the spot where it plunged deep into his flesh. But the right leg is a much better spot than his stomach.

The pains had stopped almost everyone in this situation but not Dudley, he continued moving around Young and put him into a chokehold. His left arm was around the throat of his enemy while his right arm pulled on his left arm to amplify the effect.

"Stop resisting." Hissed Dudley as he held his twitching enemy. "It´s over."  
"NO…No.. it… isn´t…" Young´s efforts to escape became weaker every second until he finally stopped moving.  
A mixture of relief, exhaustion and pure euphoria spread in him. "Seven years work for this ten seconds." He laughed shaking his head about himself.

Kitty who finally detached from her paralysis ran out of the church and saw Dudley standing there triumphing while Young lay on the ground.  
"What have you done?!" she screamed commenting the scene. "He had a bomb in a kindergarten! That explode if he dies! Oh my god, you killed innocent…" Dudley laid his hand on her mouth to stop her from shouting and said grinning. "He isn´t dead."

"But how…"  
Grinning more widely he tipped with his fingers on his throat. "The main arteries here. You just need cut the brains blood supply for ten seconds. That knocks everybody down. No matter how big or small this enemy is."

**-May I introduce him to you again. The new Dudley Puppy. Criminal, drug dealer and killer. Obsessed with finding the culprit of the massacre and the men behind. Ready to do anything to reach this goal. One last chapter to go, that will explain how Dudley became Scratch. So stay tuned. :D-**


	17. History repeating

The great paradox about history is that it´s somehow repeating. The things always repeating but the details aren´t the same. For example war. The act of solving conflict in this ultimate way always stays the same but the way how we wage the war changes. From cudgels to atomic warheads. But you don´t have to look at such big events to understand that everything is repeating.

You just have to look at the things around you, near things. Like the chief and Keswick who watched through the window of the T.U.F.F. interrogation room in which Dudley sat again. After they brought Young to jail and tended the bleeding scar Dudley had. But this time it was different from the last time days ago. The differences –or details- were, besides the thing that he didn´t even look like himself, that the aura made of self-consciousness and arrogance his doppelgänger had was gone.

And everyone felt that, everyone felt that now everything was right, that it was real. Why they felt so? Maybe it was because Dudley looked down on the table with a mixture of sadness, guilt and fear in his face but maybe it was because he called Kitty finally Kitty and not Katswell.

Kitty didn´t felt that this was right. For her it couldn´t be more wrong. Dudley was first back, then he was dead and now he´s back from the dead. A feeling of numbness slowly captured her. She looked into his blue eyes, the only thing that hasn´t changed about him, and felt nothing. No anger, no hate, no joy, no love. Just emptiness. When she thought about him a voice in her always began to say. _"I don´t care."_…

She took a deep breath and began after minutes of silence and staring, that felt like hours for everyone else, to raise her voice. "So?"  
Dudley sighed and turned his head from the ground. "You want to hear it, huh?"  
"Everything."

"Where should I start."  
"At the beginning." Replied Kitty baldly and sat down on a chair.  
"Well, I travelled a bit after I left you all. I tried to gather information about Young. It was relatively useless I have to admit. Months passed by until I found a man that claimed that he knew something. I met him in a café…"

Kitty remembered a photo Keswick showed them as he exposed Young´s true identity. "You ran directly into him right?"  
"Oh yeah." Laughed Dudley bitterly. "It was somehow… inspiring how he played the good guy that was on my side. Under a pretext I don´t remember anymore he lured me into this old forge near Moscow. I still remember his words. _You came far, Mr. Puppy but your way ends here_" Dudley said this trying to imitate Young´s original voice. What made Kitty asking a question.

"Why is your voice so different from your former voice?"  
Again Dudley laughed bitterly and opened a few buttons on his grey shirt. The big scar on his chest, Kitty already saw in the whirlpool, became visible. "That happened in Paraguay… but it was also his fault. Anyway, let´s continue chronologically. After a fight in this forge I managed to ram my knife into his shoulder but he was able to press my face into the forge fire…" Dudley touched his face and his fingers glided down his cheek.

"What you see here is what the doctors could save."

"Ah!" meant Kitty understanding. "That´s also the reason why you have this baldhead."  
"Actually…" started Dudley rubbing his hairless head. "… the hair fall out. It seems to be inherited."  
"Oh… Okay, go on." Said Kitty trying to hide a mischievous grin.

"…After I lost my face, someone stole it. By the way this wasn´t the first time Young changed his look. But anyway… after I lay in this hospital I rethought my whole strategy. This man was too good. A shadow just a few powerful guys knew about… and not the good guys. I thought how I could get in touch with these guys. That wasn´t easy but I had to get into their métier. And that was how I started my criminal career. First I dealt with drugs or beat up some thugs. Small things… everything was fine. Until some gang members of my gang turned against me because they thought it would be better to have me out of their way… I had to kill them. Of course after I killed my own gang members the bosses wanted to see me dead… I turned the tables. The end of the story was the beginning of my own legend. The people on the street talked about the guy who killed a whole drug dealer gang. It was pretty funny that this legend grew but useless for my goal. Anyway, a few years later I received an interesting offer from a weapon trader. So I began to deal with weapons. First as part of an organization, then alone. My little company grew and so did my legend. Also the file I gave you grew with the time. With the money I made it was easy to gain information about Young. I also realized that everyone has his prize. But I needed much more to get a deeper understanding of all of this. I began to do some lucrative side jobs, like robbing banks or stealing certain objects for rich guys. That was the time I formed my team. Seneca, I still know from my time in this drug gang. Adsin, was introduced to me on a meeting five years ago. And Nefarius… my friend from Sierra Leone" Dudley stopped for a second and looked to the ground until he continued.

"To make a long story short… after a disaster in Paraguay I decided to earn money in a different way. I first struggled against, especially when I look at my own drug history. But in the end my little company began to sell drugs."

"Drug history?" Kitty intervened confused.  
"Kitty, you can´t dealing this stuff without checking its quality. I also had psychological problems at that time and… let´s say it helped." Dudley sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Anyway…and to make this part of the story shorter, I am controlling the cocaine trafficking of the west coast. Of course not alone, I have given the control of my empire to a man which knows a bit more about the complex art of being the head of a company, a year ago. The funny thing is that he is actually just a business administration student from the university. But he does his job very well."

Kitty couldn´t resist giving a laugh about the fact that a student coordinates a drug empire. But she returned fast to the stern expression she had before.  
"You always talk about an incident in Paraguay. What happened there?"  
Dudley´s face suddenly switched from exhausted and guilty to a stern and petrified. "I don´t want to talk about my Waterloo… Especially not after two of the three man died who saved my life there. I´ve been through the hell and back there… you couldn´t imagine how hard this was."

These words hit Kitty like a stone and even if it wasn´t Dudley´s intention, they were pure provocation.  
"I can´t imagine what you´ve been through?" she whispered with unbelievable anger in her voice. "You have no idea, you idiot. You just left to find the stupid murderer of your mother." Her whisper became a shout fast. "You travelled across the world and forgot us while we were sitting here and tried to get on with our lifes! Or what was left of them!"

"Do you really think it wasn´t hard for me?!" shouted Dudley back. "Maybe all of you had the strength to ignore what happened but I didn´t! Every time I saw into your eyes Kitty I saw the massacre, I saw these people dying. I couldn´t live on knowing that this guy is still out there! I couldn´t go on knowing that he could maybe come back and end his work."

"Yeah that´s it! YOU couldn´t go on! YOU couldn´t ignore it! Have you ever thought about what we others felt… what I felt?" Kitty stood up from her chair, turned away from Dudley and fall silent.  
The words she used had their impact on Dudley. He recognized for the first time now what kind of egoistic asshole he was.

On his hunt for the killer he always thought that he was the better one, a hero fighting for the right thing using sometimes unconventional methods, but it never came to his mind that he maybe also hurt a few people he loved. People which he actually wanted to protect. Was he really better than Young?

Dudley now also stood up from his chair and walked to Kitty who still didn´t deign a look at him.  
"Kitty I also did that for you…"  
"No Dudley" she said with a suppressed sob. "You threw away everything we had. You weren´t there when I needed you. You just did that for yourself. But I learnt to life with that. It hurt but I learnt it. It´s over." With these words she rushed out of the room.

"No Kitty! I´m sorry…" called Dudley after her, he wanted to follow her but two other agents stopped him from leaving the room. In this moment Keswick stepped to Dudley and ordered the agents to push him back into the room. "Don´t even t..t..think about following her." He growled angrily.

"Still the thing with the hard disks? I will…"  
"F*ck the h..h..hard disks." Stated Keswick more angry. "Leave her alone!"  
"Keswick, I need to talk with her about that. We…"

"I think you talked e..e..enough. I think you broke enough! Do you even have any clue how you hurt her?! DO YOU?!" he yelled in pure pain at him. "You left her in a time she n..n..needed you the most. But you egoistic asshole just thought about yourself. A..A..About your stupid revenge. It took years for her to get over this. And now you come back and think that everything can worked out by a bit talking? Forget it! You better stay away from her! She don´t n..n..need you anymore, there is no more WE for you. I think I speak for hear when I say that it was b..b..better when you were gone!"

Keswick also headed to the door now and left the room with the words. "You better go back where you´re c..c..came from. Nobody wants to see you again." Followed by a sarcastically meant "Merry Christmas!"

In silence Dudley buried his face in his hands. "I f*cked this up." He thought. "I really f*cked this up."  
He felt really down now, not even thinking about Young in prison could cheer him up. The past, all the people he loved and cared about all the time, didn´t want to see him anymore. They hated him.

But the worst thing was what he saw in Kitty´s eyes. He saw this look a thousand times. A look which was sign for a feeling worse than hate. The feeling of complete indifference.  
He wished that she would hate him, that she would be angry on him. Everything would be better. Hate is even if the people don´t know a form of love. The love of a coward. But indifference… that is nothing. And when there is nothing there can´t be anything.

Dudley sighed and left the room. He was allowed to go. The bails the bank robbery was already paid. The shot on Rick wasn´t him so they didn´t bother him with that. And the kidnapping of Kitty… well T.U.F.F. agents didn´t like to bother with cases in which their agents get kidnapped.

It´s always a shame for the spy and the agency when a spy got kidnapped. The only thing they did is bringing the agent back, kill the hostage taker if possible and then brush the rest under the carpet.  
Dudley really liked to go in this moment but there was one thing left to do. After a little detour over the sickbay and the coffee machine, he knocked at the door of the chief´s office.

The voice of the little flea called "Enter." from the other side. Dudley stepped into an office which was full of brown boxes.  
"You leaving?" commented Dudley on the boxes.

"Yep, it´s time."  
"That means you already have a successor?"  
"Yes" answered the chief collecting a few last office tools into a box. "Kitty."

"Good… that´s good… for her" meant Dudley.  
"Agent Puppy, what do you want?" asked the chief annoyed by the fact that the ex-agent was watching him.

"Well, I was just thinking about something…"  
"And what?" the chief probed harshly.  
"Who was the number five in the league of four."

The chief stopped packing his stuff and looked at Dudley calmly. "What?"  
"There is something that I haven´t mentioned yet. A theory that came slowly to my mind but didn´t want to leave." Dudley started pacing up and down in the little office. "The three conspirator marionettes have almost the whole power over the city. The police, the politic and the court. But why didn´t they tried to conquer T.U.F.F.? Why haven´t they replaced you with a marionette?"

"I was just lucky." Explained the chief. "They tried shooting me but didn´t hit me."  
"Seriously? You want to tell me that a trained professional hits his first four targets perfectly but fails hitting the fifth?"

"Such things happen." Replied the chief shrugging.  
"I thought, prayed, hoped so too. But then I took a closer look on your leisure time activities and your bank account. A lot of unexplainable deposits. And you always hand around with the mayor and his friends."

"I´m the chief of T.U.F.F., I have to do this! And the deposits… I don´t think that I have to explain that to you."  
"Well…" continued Dudley steadfastly. "In my naivety I thought so too but after today…Why do you left somebody like Young just go? You had him in the room next to me and let him go? Usually you should have arrested someone like him especially seeing it under the angle that he lied several times about his identity?"

"Well, I…" the chief tried to find an explanation for that but he couldn´t, instead he looked he sat down on his little chair.  
Dudley stopped pacing laid his hand on the table and moved with his face very close to his former boss just to ask him the one question. "You´ve been a hero. Why?"

"You said it before, everybody has a price." Sighed the chief. "And they gave me so much money that I couldn´t resist. The former mayor, the former police chief… all of them didn´t accept the money from this mysterious man that visited us. It was just me who became weak. Everything was right you just told, good work. The shot on me was just a pretext to divert suspicion from me. Since then the man is sending me letters with instructions." The chief pulled a few letters out of his pocket and threw them on the table. "But you have to believe me that it was never my intention to hurt anyone. I just wanted to save some money for the time I´m retired."

"You helped killing 231 innocent people. You knew what would happen and let it happen just because of your greed. And you risked killing more people." Dudley moved away in disgust.  
"What now, Dudley? You want to arrest me? Or you want to kill me?" the chief asked like he was waiting for a judgment from above.

"I don´t want to see you rot in prison for the rest of your life... That would maybe scare the men I´m hunting and make them vanish forever. Also you didn´t deserved that end and I wouldn´t allow that because of the time we shared. Also I don´t kill an old man. The time will do that for me. But…" Dudley put a little mug with coffee in the chief´s size on the table. "… you never know when time strikes."

"What is that?" the chief picked up the coffee mug and eyed it.  
"Coffee with digitalis…"  
"The heart medicament?" meant the chief putting the mug back on the table.  
"Yes, a little overdose. Your heart is weak, you´re old. It will look like a heart attack." Said Dudley bald.

"Why are you telling me that?" replied the chief confused.  
"Because, as I said, I won´t kill an old man. But if there is still a bit hero in you, a part of agent Herbert Dumbrovski, you will decide that it´s time." After he spoke these words a sinister silence filled the room. Sighing and hesitating the chief led picked up the mug and led it to his lips. After another short moment in which the chief hesitated he tossed down the coffee.

"Dudley…" he said swallowing the coffee. "Mathew Richards. He can maybe help you if you want to continue your search for the puppeteer."  
"Thank you chief." Said Dudley who was already in the doorframe as the chief asked him a last question.

"Dudley, what will you do if you got him? When will this end?"  
"Mors ultima linea rerum est." he said and closed the door. As he moved out of the T.U.F.F. building he could hear the sirens of an ambulance coming to this direction.  
"Too late." Sighed Dudley as he strode on the sidewalk away from the T.U.F.F. building. In his mind he was planning the next step.

And this next step wasn´t to find this Mathew Richards. No. It was still the 24th of December. If he hurried up a bit he could be in Petsburg before dawn. Maybe he couldn´t sort out what he messed up in the past but he could at least try to save what he had now. This crazy little family, the girl, the German and the cocaine business.

As he called a taxi he just hoped that Parva´s offer, spending Christmas together with him and Seneca, still was on the table.

**-Mors ultima linea rerum est = Death is everything's final limit -**

**-The end-**

**-That was Killer´s Instinct. If you wonder now why this story has this name… Well, I don´t know, too. It seems pretty bad for Kudley now but I´m planning a sequel so let´s see how this will develop. Anyway, thanks for reading it and I hope you liked it. If you liked it write a review. Well, I hope we´ll see again soon. :D-**


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